Feliç Diada de Sant Jordi!

Dia de Sant Jordi, #7, Barcelona, 2018

Roses, books, and dragons–oh, my!

What a lovely sorta-holiday (most students and employees don’t actually get the day off, but you wouldn’t know that for the masses of humanity out and about). It’s all about culture and love!

La Diada de Sant Jordi -“A rose for love and a book forever.”

—Diada = a big, long wonderful, grand day! (Roughly.)

–The Catalan “Sant Jordi” is “Saint George” to us English-speakers, a Roman soldier of Greek descent who was separated from his head on April 23, 303 for refusing to renounce Christianity and go after other Christians (some life details are still in dispute).

–Sant Jordi is associated with the legend of the slaying of a dragon (a symbol of an invading army, perhaps?) with his lance.

–The blood of the deceased drac (Catalan for dragon) served to fertilize a rose bush, thus the tradition of giving a rose to a beloved on this day.

–The Catalan tradition of also giving a book started in the 1920s to help out booksellers–both Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died on April 23 (in the year 1616, but by different calendars, so not the exact same day).

–UNESCO has now declared April 23 to be the International Day of the Book.

–You will find hundreds of book and rose kiosks all over Barcelona and Catalunya on this day, as well as festivals steaming and teaming with dragons and knights (try the big annual festival in Montblanc, epicenter of the Catalan legend).

–In Barcelona, on this day, try walking down Rambla Catalunya to Plaça de Catalunya, then continue on down La Rambla to the Columbus monument… huge crowds, books, roses–and great photo opportunities!

–This year, some 300 Catalan and Spanish authors were on hand to autograph their books for their readers, and millions of roses and hundreds of thousands of books (half the yearly sales in Catalunya) were sold.

—BIG TIP: Make sure you go tour the Generalitat–the Catalan seat of government with its origins back in the 13th century-it is free and open to the public on this one day. The building’s interior is spectacular and decorated especially for the occasion.

It’s too bad we don’t have an equivalent day in the States, with this emphasis on love and enlightenment. Is our anti-intellectualism and rugged frontier individualism too ingrained to embrace such an unofficial holiday?

A quick visit with Ms. Google does reveal some huge book festivals scattered throughout the United States during the year, so maybe we aren’t completely hopeless. (We just need to add in the rose element.)

Here is a selection of snapshot images (Sony RX100ii) to give you a feel for the day…

You have the hundreds of book kiosks, of course. In this one, it was the big eye intently observing the mother-daughter conversation, that caught my attention!

Dia de Sant Jordi, #25, Barcelona, 2018

Dia de Sant Jordi, #8, Barcelona, 2018

Dia de Sant Jordi, #2, Barcelona, 2018

This photo deserves an explanation. Traditionally, the legend of Sant Jordi has a very traditionally-macho Saint George slaying the dragon and getting the lovely (helpless?) princess. In the book below, Santa Jordina, the gender roles are reversed–signs of the #MeToo times!

Dia de Sant Jordi, #11, Barcelona, 2018

And, of course, millions of red roses (love!) wrapped with the Catalan colors, along with a wheat stem, the latter symbolizing fertility:

Dia de Sant Jordi, #3, Barcelona, 2018

Dia de Sant Jordi, #4, Barcelona, 2018

A typical smaller kiosk:

Dia de Sant Jordi, #16, Barcelona, 2018

A different view of one of the rose vendors. I liked the contrast of colors, lines, and, of course, the wrinkles:

Dia de Sant Jordi, #5, Barcelona, 2018

It’s the barely-revealed tattoo that makes it!

Dia de Sant Jordi, #26, Barcelona, 2018

Young wandering minstrels, one dressed as a dragon, singing of love and legends:

Dia de Sant Jordi, #10, Barcelona, 2018

If you are lucky, maybe you’ll even catch a glimpse of Sant Jordi himself (the male version in this case)!

Dia de Sant Jordi, #12, Barcelona, 2018

You will see all kinds of things on your walk. These are members of the Woolman Family, “a family of artists born to question our appearance and human condition”, according to their website. Their sign quotes part of a poem which says, “Only kisses will shut their mouths”:

Dia de Sant Jordi, #21, Barcelona, 2018

The Catalan independence mood was on full display nearly everywhere–more on that below. First, though…here is the one lone super-outspoken Spanish unity supporter I spied (apart from the more tranquilo anti-idependence political party kiosks) who apparently feels that it is the Catalans who are the fascists due to what he believes is their extreme nationalism. His sign: “Fascist German judges and politicians protect the fascist revolutionary Spaniards [referring to the Catalans], Europe? 1936-1945”. As an outsider with no deep-seated vested interest, I would say this sounds a bit off. It is Rajoy and his Madrid supporters who have been acting quite heavy-handed during this crisis–and the ruling party’s lineage (Partido Popular) can be traced directly back to actual fascists of the Franco/Mussolini/Hitler era:

Dia de Sant Jordi, #22, Barcelona, 2018

Some more “normal” folks on the street. Is he texting his novia? I liked the arm with the watch just below his beard, and the other woman scratching her chin, also with watch…and the toe entering the photo from the left:

Dia de Sant Jordi, #24, Barcelona, 2018

I’m not sure what these two were up to. I’d guess some selfie photo play with the reflection in the moto mirror:

Dia de Sant Jordi, #28, Barcelona, 2018

Moving on to the Catalan independence theme, here is a mom with her young, spirited, dragon posing by a display of yellow roses–yellow being the symbol used by those awaiting the release and protesting the detention of the “Catalan political prisoners” (some are in jail in Madrid while others are in self-imposed foreign exile):

Dia de Sant Jordi, #18, Barcelona, 2018

Dia de Sant Jordi, #19, Barcelona, 2018

Speaking of “political prisoners”, here is the kiosk set up by one of the pro-independence political parties, Esquerra Republicana (Republican Left of Catalonia):

Dia de Sant Jordi, #1, Barcelona, 2018

In Plaça de Catalunya, near the fountains, there has been a small independence protest encampment for some weeks (months?) now. Here, under the estelada (independence flag with the single star) you see a poster of Carles Puigdemont dressed as sort of a funky Roman warrior (?)–“Our President is a super-warrior!” Puigdemont is currently in Germany awaiting the decision of the German judiciary to see if he will be extradited back to Spain for the charge of misuse of public funds (for putting on the October 1, 2017 independence referendum without Madrid’s approval). The German courts have already declared there is no basis for extraditing Puigdemont based on the primary charge of “rebellion” as no violence has ever been used in the movement: