Seven million roses sold on Sant Jordi’s Day

This year was a great Sant Jordi’s Day for Catalonia’s flowersellers, with a total of seven million roses sold on the day. Every April 23, Catalonia honors its patron saint Sant Jordi in one of the country’s most popular festivals of the year, in which couples express their affection by exchanging books for roses. As the classic symbol of love, that means millions of red roses are sold every year.

Yet, this year was a little different. The symbol of the campaign showing solidarity with jailed Catalan pro-independence leaders is a yellow ribbon. As a result, yellow roses were in huge demand this Sant Jordi’s Day, and they even outsold red roses in certain flower stalls. According to the flowersellers’ association, some 600,000 yellow roses were sold on Monday.

Flowersellers on the streets of Catalonia certainly noticed the rise in demand for yellow roses, with many stocking up with twice as many as usual. “We have bought more yellow roses than other years,” said one flowerseller in Tarragona, “with the situation as it is we knew people would ask us for them.” In many cases, people decided to give two roses, one red -for love- and one yellow -for solidarity.