On the 23rd of April, we Catalans celebrate a great feast in honor of a mysterious knight who saved a princess from being eaten by a wild dragon. Around this brave hero, Saint George (Saint Jordi) and Patron Saint of Catalonia, the well-known day of the rose and the book was born.
The custom requires the men to give their loved ones red roses that day. Even the legend of St. George reports that the dragon's blood sprang from a rose bush, where the knight broke a rose and handed it to the princess. The customer of this tradition goes back to the 15th century, but it was then reserved for the nobility. Over the centuries, it has become a popular tradition, and today, St. George's Day can be considered the true day of lovers in Catalonia.
The Rose tradition has been fortunate with the Day of the Book feast, a much younger custom that, however, has deep roots in our region. Here it is the women who usually book their life companion. In 1995, this ritual was consolidated when UNESCO declared April 23 the "World Book and Authorship Day".