This celebration is
very important in Catalonia; it represents love and culture, love between
people and love between literature. In that day books and roses are every were
creating a very nice atmosphere. In the last years it has been exported around
the world.
This historical event
started on the medieval age.
The legend tells that
Saint George was a knight that defended a kingdom from a dragon. The kingdom
was very afraid because they have to give the princes as food for the dragon,
but fortunately St George could kill it. After the fight between the knight and
the dragon, a drop of blood drooped
from the terrific dragon, that blood transformed into a red rose. St George gave
the rose to the princes showing his love for her. You can believe it or not,
but since that day we celebrate that St George killed the dragon and the
princes was saved.
Saint George’s day
was celebrated for the first time on the XVI century.
Now a day, we celebrate
St George’s day on the 23th of April because it’s the day that he died. Women
give a book for men and men give a rose for women like St George did. This
celebration is the Catalan version of Valentine’s Day.
We also commemorate
the death of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.
St George is the
patron saint official of Catalonia since 1456.
