St George's Day at the Costa Brava: Day of the Lovers and Literature
April 23rd is one of the most important days in the Catalan calender. St George's Day in Catalonia has a specific tradition: donating books and roses to the ones you love and like.
Those of you who have booked a Costa Brava apartment or a Costa Brava hotel at the end of April will be able to experience this tradition. This day will be celebrated all over Catalonia and especially in the big cities Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona. Books and rose sellers will be present on the streets with their stalls the whole day.
This celebrations root from two traditions: The first one from St. George - the patron saint of many regions, cities and countries, such as Catalonia. Having emerged from Middle Ages, the story of Saint George is about a small village that is terrorized by a dragon. Regularly, the dwellers have to sacrifice animals and even a princess. Subsequently, a knight called George came and rescued the princess and killed the dragon. Arised from the dragon's blood, a rose grew that St. George donated to the princess after rescuing her. Since then, the rose is donated on St Geoge's day.
The tradition of donating a book, though, comes from a much more modern event. In 1995, the UNESCO declared the 23rd April as the "Day of the Book". Since then the two traditions merged and today it is common the donate a book as well as a rose to the ones you love.
You can experience this event live on April 23rd in Girona, at the Rambla de la Llibertat.
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