Saint Jordi’s Day - Celebrating Love and Romance, the Catalans Style

On 23rd April, sparks of love and romance will be felt all over Barcelona and Catalonia as people celebrate Saint Jordi’s Day. This day, which is also known as the Feast of St George, Feliç Diada de Sant Jordi, Sant Jordi´s or "La Diada de Sant Jordi", is steeped in history as the most romantic day of the year in these regions.

Sant Jordi is the Catalan name of Saint George, who is the patron saint of Catalonia.
The day is not an exclusively Barcelona affair as it is also celebrated by Christians in other towns and cities around the world where St George is the patron saint.

The rest of the world would look at Barcelona with envy as they are regarded lucky to have two Valentine Days in one year. St Jordi’s is also called "El Día de los Amantes," which means Lovers Day and sometimes called "El día de la Rosa," which means the Rose Day. Although not an official public holiday, the day is marked with much pomp and flair as people of all ages exchange red roses and books. It is tradition for men to give their ladies red roses on this day while a new trend has seen women give books to the special men in their lives.

Big Business
Akin to Valentine’s Day, this is the time of the year when florists and floral designers in this region enjoy big business and profits.

“For us, St Jordi is a huge holiday that does not exist anywhere in the world but here, so all people in Catalonia really enjoy to celebrate this day by giving a rose to the women they love. The impact for us is huge, since it represents close to 20% of our annual sales,” says Pep, director at Flors Anglés, a florist wholesaler company based in Barcelona Spain.

Another florist we spoke to, Carles of Fontanillas Floristeria shared the same sentiments about St Jordi being the best sales day of the year.

“This day single handedly compensates for the previous three months, that are maybe the worst of the year for florist,” Says Carles.

The roses given on St Jordi’s are mostly long stemmed red roses decorated with a sprig of wheat and a little red and yellow “senyera”, the symbol of four red stripes on a golden background, which is the Catalan flag. Many roses have the message “t’estimo,” – “I love you” in Catalan.

The legend of St Jordi
It is believed that at a small village in Catalonia called Montblanc, an evil dragon wreaked havoc among the people, eating their animals until there were none left. To calm the dragon’s anger, the inhabitants of the village decided to sacrifice one person every day, chosen by drawing lots, and to offer that person to the dragon as a sign of their good will. However, one, dark day, the person chosen to be sacrificed was the king’s daughter. Just when the princess was about to be swallowed up by the dragon, a courageous knight appeared and confronted the evil beast. This was Sant Jordi. He thrust his lance into the dragon and, out of the blood that spurted forth, there grew a red rose bush.