The Catalan feast of Saint George, or Sant Jordi, is celebrated on April 23rd and you can think of it as something between Valentine’s Day and our May Day, the time of love.
Actually no. It is much prettier, more traditional and more revered. Tradition tells men to present their significant other with roses on this day. Not only girlfriends and wives, but also daughters, mothers and even colleagues, while the women reciprocate with a book.
Wherever you go on this day in Barcelona and other cities, you cannot avoid the ubiquitous stands built just for this purpose. Yes, it may seem as much a marketing ploy as Valentine’s Day, but trust me, appearances are deceiving in this case.
Catalans really live this holiday and do not seem to be forced to do so by any socio-commercial pressures. Whether they are young or old. They are really looking forward to this day and are anxiously watching the weather forecast, the only thing that can spoil their joy. The holiday of Sant Jordi takes place outside and their experience is thus shared.
This year it was almost. After too long months of drought, which afflicts the country very dramatically, it rained all day on the twenty-second of April. There was even lightning and thunder a few times, and there was nothing but a conflict of desires among the people. Everyone, without exception, finally wishes for some rain, but for God’s sake not on the Sant Jordi holiday!
St. George listened to the Catalans. Not a single drop had fallen and already from the morning the city was decorated with hundreds, maybe thousands of stands with mostly red roses tied with a ribbon in the yellow-red colors of the Catalan flag, often with an ear of wheat. Long tables with stacks of books of all possible genres and languages appeared in the squares and streets, where the first customers stood. During the day, there were larger or smaller groups of mostly women flipping through the pages and choosing a suitable gift.
Saint George is the patron saint of many countries, such as England, Greece, Romania and, since 1456, also Catalonia. The Feast of Sant Jordi is celebrated throughout the country on April 23, the day that Knight Jordi died.
George, or Jordi in Catalan, was a Roman soldier of Greek origin who refused to comply with Emperor Diocletian’s order to persecute Christians, for which he was martyred and beheaded. He was then venerated as a martyr, and soon fantastic stories connected with his character began to be told.
Naturally, each country has its own version of the legend. The Catalan one tells about Jordi as a prince on a white horse and it’s a nice fairy tale.
A long time ago, a terrible dragon terrorized the small village of Montblanc near Barcelona. All the citizens were frightened and fed the dragon to appease its anger. However, the dragon was so greedy that eventually all the animals in the village ran out. And so the villagers decided to sacrifice one person every day whom they had drawn.
And once this chosen person became the king’s daughter. But like in a proper fairy tale where he got married, here he got married by a valiant knight on a white horse and he was none other than the knight Jordi. He killed the dragon with his spear and presented the princess with a rose from a bush that had grown where the dragon’s blood had been spilled.
And how do books fit into this? This part of the tradition doesn’t actually come from St. George, but is intertwined in time with International Book Day, which dates back to 1923 in Spain and coincides with the deaths of two greats – Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, who both died at the same time in 1616.
Although St. George’s Day is not a public holiday in Catalonia, crowds of people roam the streets all day long, many with one hand in hand and a flower or book in the other. Little girls and old ladies enter the subway car with roses, and I felt a little sorry that I was leaving work with only a purse.
The romantic and dignified atmosphere is so infectious that you’ll feel festive along with the locals, even if you’re otherwise resistant to romance. Not to either. All the important buildings are decorated for this day and for example the facade of Gaudí’s famous Casa Batlló is dressed in hundreds of red roses.
Foto: Pexels
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How seriously the locals take the holiday is proven, for example, by their profile photos, which they often change to pictures of roses with books just for this day, they send each other congratulations in messages, and even internet portals place columns celebrating Sant Jordi in front of other messages.
After all, the numbers prove the magnificence of this holiday. An average of 4 million roses and half a million books are sold in Catalonia every year. In the end, I too received a rose with a Catalan bow and proudly displayed it as a symbol of belonging to the local tradition.
If you are going to visit Catalonia or its capital Barcelona, plan your trip for next April. It is definitely worth it to be there and experience the ubiquitous festive mood for yourself.
