23rd April, St George's Day & Shakespeare's Birthday

Tuesday 23rd April is St George's Day in England, celebrating St George, England's patron saint. The anniversary of his death, which is on April 23rd, is seen as England's national day. According to legend, he was a soldier in the Roman army who killed a dragon and saved a princess. The flag of England is the red Cross of St. George, and this is widely displayed as a symbol of national identity. Surprisingly, 23rd April is not a Bank Holiday.

William Shakespeare - long revered as Britain's, if not the world's, best known author and playwright, also died on 23rd April, but in 1616, in Stratford-upon-Avon, making this the 403rd Anniversary. He was Baptised in Stratford on the 26th April 1564 and his birth date is not known but it is traditionally observed on 23rd April, Saint George's Day, indicating that he would have died on his birthday. 

This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholar's mistake, has proved appealing to biographers, it being considered somewhat poetic that he died on his 42nd birthday. 

Shakespeare has 37 plays and 154 sonnets credited to him, but we don't really know whether he actually wrote them, or was just a merchant, land owner and occasional actor who either brokered the plays or was prepared to be acknowledged as the author to protect anonymity of those truly responsible.

Certainly writing plays could be dangerous as any plot seen to reflect a political plot not appreciated by the Queen/King could be interpreted as treason.

Many scholars argue, quite reasonably, that proof of Shakespeare’s authorship is largely circumstantial and sketchy at best; certainly he was better known in Stratford as a businessman [one documented view is that he brokered the plays] and not a playwright. 

What do you think? Do you think he wrote all of the plays, poems and sonnets attributed to him?  

This Blog first appeared on Joanna's Harmony Healing Blog. To have Joanna's Blog updates emailed for the New and Full Moon, meteor showers, eclipses and other meteorological events, interesting anniversaries, ancient festival dates plus notfication of dates of numerological significance, please sign up for the Harmony Healing newsletters via the website.