Festival of Sant Jordi, the book and the rose
April 23rd
(the rose as a symbol of love and the book as a symbol of culture)
Catalan proverb
Si plou per Sant Jordi les cireres en orris !
If it rains on St. George’s day, there will be no cherries!
Celebrated on or around 23rd April, a date linked to literature and popular traditions, Sant Jordi is the Patron saint of Catalonia and the French equivalent of St George, a Christian Roman soldier, who was martyred around 303AD for refusing to renounce Christianity. According to legend, he happened across a dragon terrorising the inhabitants of a town, demanding a daily maiden to snack upon. When the short straw was drawn by the king’s daughter, help was at hand! St Jordi rescued the damsel, the king and the
whole population converted to Christianity in gratitude and roses grew from the ground where the dragon’s blood had been shed.
At the end of the 19th century, Sant Jordi became a Catalan symbol as it was felt that his struggle against the dragon was similar to the Catalan struggle for freedom. It became traditional to give a rose and a book to a loved one and annual literary competitions were held to stimulate young people to cultivate, respect and take a delight in the Catalan literature and language, a tradition which inspired UNESCO to declare this date the International Day of the Book. Offer your lady a rose, buy your man a book in the streets of Perpignan on Saturday 21st April which turn into a hive of culture and literature, as bookstalls set up on the quai Vauban, place Gambetta, and place Arago, and towns and villages throughout the region .
(April 23rd was not only famous because of the legend of St. George, but also because it is the anniversary of the death of two great writers: CERVANTES and SHAKESPEARE)
