[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="339" caption="Bulgarian Orthodox Icon of St George and the Dragon"]<img class=" " title="Bulgarian Orthodox Icon of St George and the Dragon" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Orthodox_Bulgarian_icon_of_St._George_fighting_the_dragon.jpg" alt="" width="339" height="511" />[/caption]

Today's a pretty big holiday in Bulgaria!

There's no work and lots of things to celebrate.

It's St George's Day!

You may or may not know this but St George is known for slaying a dragon.

It's not really clear to me how St. George found himself in the position to kill a dragon but he's well known for and loved for this act.

I don't really know the story of St George. But after three years in Bulgaria, I've seen plenty of icons immortalizing St George and the dragon. Based on the various painting I've seen of George and the dragon it's clear that two things are important. St George and the dragon.

The paintings are pretty great. I really like the dragons they reveal a lot about the imagination of the painter--sometimes it looks like an overgrown snake, sometimes a lizard, sometimes a reptile with wings and more often than not the dragon looks a little sickly. I think how you imagine a dragon says a lot about you.  I mean, I've never seen a dragon before so I like to imagine how I might paint it if I were in the same situation. This said, I don't think I am really supposed to focus on the dragon as much as I am supposed to focus on St George.<!--more-->

Now St George, let's talk about him. He's good looking. He rides a beautiful horse. And he seems to be both brave and strong. In all of the paintings I've seen of  St George the dragon cowers under him having just been stabbed. Sometimes there's a little blood coming out of the wound but sometimes there's not either way it's clear that St George has triumphed and that the dragon will not last long. (But who is the little guy on the back of St George's horse?!)

A quick perusal of <a title="St George " href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George" target="_blank">wikipedia explains the myth</a>. Here's my quick informal paired back version: there's a city that relies on a spring for water but a dragon moves in and builds his nest next to the spring. In order to get water each day the people offer the dragon a sheep or a young girl if there aren't any sheep. One day the kings daughter, a princess, is selected. The king begs for her to be saved but the people will not be deterred. They offer her to the dragon and this when St George enters the story. Protecting himself with the sign of the cross, he fights the dragon and rescues the princess!! The people convert to Christianity.

Today in Bulgaria, St George's Day is widely celebrated.  It's the day of the Bulgarian Army which is celebrated with a parade downtown.  But more probably more importantly, it's a big nameday--Гергьовден! Anyone with a name linked to George  gets to celebrate their namesake and their nameday. I think the two most popular names are Georgi and Gergana but apparently these names are also linked to George--Galin, Galina, Galya, Ganka, Gancho, Genko, Genoveva, Gergin, Gergina, Ginka, Gyuro and as such they will be celebrating the day too.

Many people regardless of whether or no they are celebrating their nameday will be eating roast lamb today as it is extremely popular on this holiday. I think this is because in addition to being the patron saint of soldiers St George is also the patron saint of shepherds.

Happy St. George's Day to you!