Local Article

"La amenaza de lluvia no disuade a los barceloneses de tomar el centro de la ciudad"

The article from La Vanguardia on April 23rd talks about el Dia de Sant Jordi, a Catalan holiday that takes place each year on April 23rd. It says that the people from Barcelona starting celebrating the holiday very early in the morning filling the streets with books and flowers even though they were scared that the forecast predicted rain. At the start of the day many salespeople were fearful that the rain would ruin their business for the day. One saleswoman who was interviewed explained that the is a day of liberty because most days you must go to the shopping centers to buy things, but today the people buys and sell in the street. Many students were enthralled by the many colors that filled the street, there were even 5 different colors of roses being sold. Many tourists are attracted to this city for the holiday as well. This year, the market Mercabarna-Flower predicts that six million roses in Catalonia will be sold, a figure that is 10% higher than last year. Of course the red rose will have the most success and its price will be around 3 euro. Mercabarna-flower will market more than 2.4 million roses, 40% of which will all be sold in Catalonia. The price of the flowers will be around the three euro. The Gremi of Llibreters of Barcelona i Catalonia predicts to profit around 20 million euro, a figure that has maintained stable in the last three years. It is coincidental that I had to research this holiday for my CEA class the first week I came here. I learned that it is the Day of Saint George and it is heavily celebrated by Catalonians on April 23rd to recognize the day of his death. On this day, women must buy their men a book, while men must by their women a rose. This holiday is often compared to the American holiday of Valentine’s Day. The day all comes from a legend that St. George killed a dragon to save the princess and when he did so, he gave her a red rose that grew out of the blood of the dragon. The idea of giving your boyfriend a book is said to have come later on as a business ploy and a day for book publishers to make more money. I walked around the city on this day and I was amazed to see how many different stands were set up to sell books and roses. Furthermore, I saw such cool colored roses that I kind of wanted one myself, but I sadly had no one to buy one for me. The city had so much traffic, I am not sure if it is because of this day or just coincidental. I am going for dinner tonight at a restaurant and I hope that it will not be too crowded as a result of this day. The picture I included shows a vendor selling roses on the street.