Happy St. Jordi's Day!

April 23rd is a wonderful day in Barcelona.  It is St. Jordi's day, sort of the Catalan version of St. Valentine's Day and of course, the Saint's day of the Patron Saint of Catalunya, St. Jordi.  On this day men give their sweetheart roses and women give their sweethearts a book.  At HP this tradition sparked trouble one year when the women complained that it was a sexist holiday.  So they gave the women books instead of roses! This special day also marks International Book Day which was inspired by the deaths of writers Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare.  Everywhere in the city you see book markets set up on the sidewalks interwoven with street vendors selling roses at painful prices.  I remember reading that million of roses are sold in Barcelona on April 23rd!

Our school had a big festival each year on St. Jordi's day.  Students acted out the story of St. Jordi (or St. George if you aren't in Catalunya).  A handsome knight killed the dragon and saved the princess.  Each of the grade school classes learned a version of the traditional Catalan dance, the Sardana.  One year Scott's class danced on roller skates.  Another year when John was in High School and dancing was optional, I paid him an exorbitant amount of money so that he would dance because George's Dad was going to be visiting us.  He was the only boy in his class to dance that year!  At the end of the performances everyone is invited out on the floor to learn the sardana.  I finally learned it and loved participating in this little bit of Catalan culture!  The teachers barbecued butiffara (Catalan sausage) and most of the adults enjoyed the Catalan improved version (so I'm told) of champagne called Cava.   Can you tell that this is a Catalan holiday that inspires a lot of national pride?  Oh the memories......