St George’s Day Craft: George Cross Tabard

The Church, knowing that a mere Saint’s Day was no match for the epic event that was The Royal Wedding, moved St. George’s Day this year. Who knew they could do that? I certainly didn’t. And, no, they didn’t really move it because of TRW, but because it would have fallen over Easter Weekend. Which means that tomorrow is St George’s Day, and you will get to feel what it would be like if we had a public holiday every time we celebrated our Patron Saint. And so we made a St George’s Day Craft, in this case a George Cross Tabard

In actual fact, St George is also the Patron Saint of  Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany and Greece; and of Moscow, Istanbul, Genoa and Venice (second to Saint Mark), although not Turkey which is where he was born. He was imprisoned, tortured and subsequently beheaded for protesting against the persecution of Christians, and was ‘given’ his Saint’s Day in 1222. [source] The legend attached to him, which appears to be myth, is that he slayed a dragon to rescue an innocent maiden from death.

If you are one of the oodles of people who had no idea that it hadn’t been and gone, then here’s a (very) quick craft idea to get your children in the mood for some dragon-slaying. You need:

white paper (I used a leftover disposable tablecloth, but pieces would work just as well)

red paint, or crayons, or indeed a mixture of the two

some sticky tape (I used red duct tape)

Using a child’s apron as a guide, I cut out an apron shape from the folded tablecloth (I cut it so that the shoulder pieces were on the fold and this created my tabard, but you could just as easily cut two pieces and attach them at the shoulder with sticky tape.)

Once cut, I drew the outline of a large cross on the front and back, then got the children to paint inside the lines. Given that PD and friend Ed are in the 2-3 age group, the ‘inside the lines’ coment was, well, ignored. But you get the theory at least.

Once dry, use sticky tape to fasten your tabard around your child. Supply with sword and paper plate dragon (I used this paper plate dinosaur as a guideline) and prepare to be rescued.