The Catalan St. Valentines Day
On the 23rd of April, Barcelona celebrates the Catalan Patron Saint Sant Jordi (St. George in English). The main particularity of this event is that locals consider it as their St. Valentine�s day, thanks to the legend which describes St. George as a very romantic character.The legend also says that the Saint killed the dragon which was threatening the population since a long time. From the monster�s blood, wonderful red roses grew. This is the reason why, since the Middle Age, men are supposed to offer a red rose to women in this particular day. Later, in XX century, the date was also associated to the national day of books, for an editor�s marketing reason. This is how it was started the tradition of women offering a book to men as an exchange of the rose received.
On this particular day, along all the main streets (and especially La Rambla) there is a massive sale of books both in Catalan and in Spanish. Everywhere you will also find stands selling red roses, of course. It seems that on the 23rd of April about 4 millions roses and 400 thousands books are sold. This is the half of the yearly books sale!
St. George�s day isn�t bank holiday here in Barcelona, however many people take the day off to enjoy the festivity atmosphere, walk along La Rambla and look for some books to buy.
The 23rd is also an opportunity for backpackers to assists to many other activities:
*In Plaza Sant Jaume people dance the Catalan traditional Sardana.
*Many books-shops and bars host writers reading parts of famous novels.
*In some areas of the city hundreds of Jordi, Jorge, George, Yuri, Gorka and Giorgio make a human chain trying to enter the Guinness Premiership.
*All around the city centre there will be many street art shows with musicians, human statues and actors to make the atmosphere even more romantic.
So if you are staying at the Urbany Hostel Barcelona on this particular day, don’t waste your time: take the red metro line to Plaza Catalunya and start exploring St. Jordi’s events all around town.
