Why today (23rd April) is the best day of the year?

Hi everybody. Today I'm taking the liberty of not talking about Denmark. I will talk about the only day I miss from Catalunya. There is only one day I would like to come back to Catalunya and to be in Barcelona. Is today, on 23rd April. It's a special day for me and for everyone in Catalunya. This day is only comparable with "La diada de Catalunya" (National day of Catalonia), on 11th September. 

23^rd April: Sant Jordi’s day

Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalunya and each 23^rd of April, in Catalonia, we celebrate “La diada de Sant Jordi” (Sant Jordi’s day). On my opinion is the most beautiful day on the year and everybody should go to Catalonia on this day, especially to Barcelona. On 23^rd April Barcelona turns magic. The atmosphere is incredible and everybody has good mood.

Sant Jordi is the Saint Patron of Barcelona

For catalan people, Sant Jordi’s day is the day of love and culture. That’s why men give a rose to women and women give a book to men. Since XV century Catalans took Sant Jordi’s day as the lover’s day (we don’t celebrate Saint Valentine) and that’s why we give a rose to our loved women. But also since 1929 this day is taken as the day of the book. That’s why we also interchange books.

Some years ago, it was popular that men gave a rose to women and women gave a book to men; but nowadays, it has changed, and both women and men can interchange books and roses.

23rd April we celebrate Sant Jordi: The day of the book and the rose. 

It’s such a beautiful day because everybody is outside in the streets and walk through the Barcelona’s city center with a rose and a book in their hands. All the streets have stands of roses and books, and you can walk with your partner or your friends enjoying the day. This day Barcelona smells different-it smells to roses- and it is plenty of different colors- there are roses of all colors you can imagine, even multi-colors. 

 It’s especially nice to walk through “Les rambles”; maybe the most popular street in Barcelona, because besides stands with roses and books, there are a lot of stands where the books-writers are, and you can talk with them, take some photos and get a signature on your book.

Les Rambles are every Sant Jordi full of people, althought it is raining.

Everybody is walking through the streets looking
for a rose and a book for their partners.

With this video you can have a vague idea about the atmosphere in Barcelona on Sant Jordi's day, but I insist that you have to feel it by yourself. 

The Legend of Sant Jordi and the dragon

Once upon a time, the inhabitants of Montblanc, one of the most important Medieval villages in Catalunya, were terrified by the threat of a dragon who lived in a close cave. The dragon was really scaring and he flew every day to the village asking for food. First, the inhabitants of Montblanc gave him chickens and sheeps. But they were too small animals for the dragon and he was still hungry. So they decided to give him the cows of the village. But the dragon soon finished with them. Desperate, the people gave their horses to the dragon, but anyway they were not enough to fill the stomach of the dragon.

I honesty recommend you to visit Montblanc, specially on Sant Jordi's
week, because there is a very nice atmosphere these days.

Montblanc is surrounded by walls. 

 The dragon was never fulfilled and he turned more aggressive every day because he was very very hungry and the villagers couldn’t offer him anything to eat. Finally, one day, the dragon went to the village and made a request:

“You have to give me one of your villagers every day. If not, I will burn and destroy your village”.

The villagers did what the dragon had said and they decided that a raffle had to be done in order to choose the person would be eaten by the dragon. So, the names of all people of the village were written down and put into a bag and every day, the king took one of the pieces. The third day the king took one piece of paper and went suddenly blank. He took the name of his beautiful daughter, the princess. Both the king and the princess cried, but they quickly accepted her destiny. So she said goodbye to everyone and walked to the dragon’s cave.

The village was totally depressed by the fact that the dragon was close to eat their princess; but when the dragon was ready to eat her, suddenly appear a horse rider – Sant Jordi- taking a sword in his hand. The dragon saw him and blew a ball of fire towards him, but Sant Jordi avoided the attack, rode towards the dragon and stuck the sword in the dragon heart. The dragon screamed and died. The princess ran to her hero and embraced her, and then, a magic thing happened. From the pool of red blood coming from the dragon’s heart, a rose tree sprouted. Little by little, more roses appeared from the dragon’s blood. Sant Jordi took the biggest and most beautiful red rose and gave it to the princess.

Everybody in Catalunya knows the Legend of Sant Jordi

That’s why, from that day, the 23^rd of April Catalan men give to their “princesses” (their girl-friends; wives; best-friends; mothers or grand-mothers) a rose.

Sant Jordi is our "Saint Valentine's day"