Críticas Magazine

Adriana V. Lopez

Libro Love and Because Both Cervantes and Shakespeare Died
April 23, 2008

Barcelona’s springtime literary love fest, Diada de Sant Jordi is Catalunya’s take on St. Valentine’s Day. The holiday takes place on April 23rd, the anniversary of Cervantes’s and Shakespeare’s deaths and international book day. It spotlights love’s finer accompaniments: books, roses, and playing hooky from work. I love this take on the holiday; it’s a welcome switch from America’s garish pink Hallmark cards, helium balloons, or the obligatory heart-shaped boxes of chocolates perfunctorily sent to one’s cubicle for Valentine’s Day. Way back in the dark Middle Ages, the legendary and valiant Saint George (Sant Jordi) was said to have rescued  his Catalan city and his pouty princess from a fire-breathing dragon that plagued the people. He stabbed the beast in the heart with his sword and killed it.

[San Jordi slashes the dragon for Catalunya]

Now in tribute to all that reptilian bloodshed, and the miraculous rosebush that blossomed from it, it is the custom that men give red roses to their ladies. In return, the ladies give books to their men. Local booksellers and flower vendors cram the length of la Rambla de Catalunya and other streets, and everyone in Barcelona finds a good excuse not to do a stitch of work. Instead, people stroll the streets with their loved ones, browse for books, crowd the plazas, and eye the fashionable authors of the day. Not a bad tradition, huh?

 
[A Book Lover's Paradise: Barcelona's La Rambla on Diada de Sant Jordi]

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on April 23, 2008 | Comments (0)