sant jordi

London’s Borough Market hosted the celebration of Sant Jordi’s Day in the British capital. Like all over Catalonia, stalls selling books and roses colored one of the most iconic spots in the city, complete with Catalan food tasting, storytelling, traditional human towers (Castellers) and a mix of both Catalan and English folklore. The Delegation of the Catalan Government to the UK and Ireland, together with the Catalan community in the UK, the Tourism Office, and Institut Ramon Llull London, which promotes Catalan culture and literature, also took part in the celebrations and had their own stalls at the market. 

One of Catalonia’s most beloved festivals, Sant Jordi, will be celebrated in a record 50 countries worldwide this year. Although Catalonia’s Patron Saint Day is on the 23^rd of April, there are activities related to books and roses—the main protagonists of the day—scheduled over the course of a few weeks in New York, Bogotá, London, Melbourne, Johannesburg, and many others. The Delegations of the Catalan Government abroad play a key role in exporting Sant Jordi around the world. Also active is the Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), which is a public institution in charge of promoting Catalan culture and language, and the University Network of Catalan Studies Abroad. Thus, exhibitions, public readings, stalls selling books and roses, and elements of Catalan culture, such as traditional human towers (Castellers), will deliver the spirit of Sant Jordi all over the globe.

Catalonia’s patron saint, Sant Jordi, celebrates love and literature and joins together books and roses in one of Catalans' most beloved traditions. This year, the 23^rd of April is on a Sunday and therefore wholesalers expect rose sales to flourish the whole weekend, starting on Friday and lasting until Monday. This will allow them to maintain the same sales levels as last year's and reach the figure of 6 million roses. ‘Freedom’ is expected to be the best-selling variety of rose, distributed in more ecological and original wrappings, reducing the use of cellophane. Although some customers may go away for the weekend, florists expect sales to be compensated by the number of visitors to the city, which will exceptionally open its shops on Sunday.

More than 15,000 people attended the concert ‘Our home, your home’ which is part of the homonymous campaign aimed to emphasise Catalonia’s willingness to welcome refugees. 50 artists of different origins and musical styles contributed to make the public aware of the humanitarian crisis which has left, according to the UN, more than 200 million people worldwide escaping from war and poverty. The promoters of the campaign, which gathers together more than 200 Catalan associations and NGOs and a hundred cultural companies and citizens, recalled that the Spanish Government has only received 516 refugees of the 10,772 initially established in the scheme of distribution of the European Commission. Next Saturday, Barcelona will host a demonstration to ensure that Catalan institutions act, leaving aside the inaction from Spain, to start hosting refugees in Catalonia.

After the 2016 celebrations for Sant Jordi’s festival came to a close, Catalan Minister of Culture Santi Vila announced that the Catalan Government will offer its full support to an initiative to recognise the feast day as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). As opposed to UNESCO World Heritage, ICH safeguarding works to promote and protect traditions, practices, and other living expressions of culture beyond physical sites, objects, and monuments. Until now, the Catalan Booksellers Guild and the Catalan Publishers Guild have discussed the initiative with the House of Books — the same institute that worked to have the 23^rd of April recognised as UNESCO World Book Day. 

The festivity of Sant Jordi, one of the most romantic and anticipated days of the year for many Catalans, was a success. Hundreds of thousands of people headed to the streets this Saturday in search of a book and a rose for their loved ones. Barcelona was particularly crowded, but so were the other capitals of Catalonia, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, and all the small towns and villages of the country. Late in the afternoon, the rain slightly hampered the celebration in parts of the country, especially in the north. Book sellers and florists, however, were satisfied with expected sales of about 1.5 million books and around 5.5 million roses. Sant Jordi was also a great occasion for readers to meet their favourite authors, who took part in different book signings. In Barcelona, where the most famous authors were, but also in other cities, there were long queues for a signature. The bestseller in Catalan was 'La filla del capità Groc', by Víctor Amela.

The Catalan President said during his speech on the occasion of Sant Jordi that the festivity is an opportunity to have the voices of the Catalans “heard and respected”, and he urged to achieve this through “arguments, proposals, dialogue and understanding”. Carles Puigdemont described Sant Jordi as “one of the most anticipated days of the year in Catalonia and one of the most beautiful and enjoyable to experience” and invited “everyone, people from here and from abroad, to enjoy it in person”. “Take full advantage of this day and enjoy it with happiness, civility and respect for everyone!”, he added, in a televised speech.

Sant Jordi’s Day is not only a huge festival for Catalonia, but for the printing and publishing industry as well. Annually, book sales during the festival weekend contribute between 5 and 8 percent of yearly profits. In 2015, the Catalan Booksellers Guild reported that 1.5 million books had been sold in Catalonia during the Sant Jordi festival, bringing in roughly €19.2 million. If last year’s trends where buyers bought more than one book during the festival continue, sales could be even higher for printed books of varying topics and genres. This year’s predicted top-selling books for Sant Jordi cover everything from ways to tidy up and organise your home to psychological thrillers and island mysteries.

To celebrate Sant Jordi, the patron saint of Catalonia, various cities and towns throughout Catalonia will host a variety of events, including the more traditional vigil of Sant Jordi on the 22^nd of April and the blessing of the roses, but also extending to more than 500 events all over the territory. Such events span staged readings, museum open houses, meetings with writers, dances, open air recitals, and poetry readings. Additionally, more linguistically focused events will take place which will focus on the local language and culture, promoted by the linguistic normalisation centres (CNLs), which aim to promote the use of Catalan in its different forms. Meanwhile, Montblanc, a town which is said to be the home of the legend of dragon slayer Sant Jordi, will host the 29^th edition of the Medieval Week of the Legend of Sant Jordi festival in conjunction with the day of Sant Jordi itself. 

People all over the world celebrate one of Catalonia’s most beloved festivals, Sant Jordi’s Day, in different ways. This year, over 40 countries have planned well over 100 activities throughout the week of the 23^rd of April through the first days of May. Through a collaboration between the University Network of Catalan studies abroad as well as the Ramon Llull Institute and the Catalan Government, activities celebrating love, literature, and Catalan culture have been scheduled across Europe as well as North and South America. This year, activities including everything from Instagram contests to a project encouraging students across continents to update and extend Wikipedia articles on the Catalan philosopher and writer Ramon Llull, to whom Catalonia dedicates all the cultural activities this 2016, have been scheduled. 

Since the 15^th century, Catalonia has been celebrating the feast day of Sant Jordi (Saint George) on the 23^rd of April. Each year, people flock to the streets to celebrate this Catalan equivalent to Valentine’s Day. Traditionally, on Sant Jordi’s Day men presented their lovers with roses, while women gave their lovers a book in return. Today, both men and women give roses and books to their friends, family, and partners as a way to celebrate love and literature. More than 500 activities related to Sant Jordi and literature will be held all over Catalonia, although Barcelona is set to be the epicentre, with hundreds of stalls selling roses, bookshops taking their catalogue to the squares and renowned writers signing their novelties and meeting their fans. In the last years, Sant Jordi has also gained international recognition and will be celebrated in more than 40 countries all over the globe.

Barcelona's candidacy has convinced UNESCO's directors, international experts and the Creative Cities Network and has this Friday joined the list of UNESCO Cities of Literature. From now on, the Catalan capital will have to promote literature, integrate culture into its economic and social development plans and collaborate with the other Creative Cities. The Catalan capital presented the richness of its literary heritage in both the Catalan and Spanish languages and the international power of its editorial sector as some of its main assets. However, the celebration of Saint Jordi, Catalonia's patron day, when Catalans exchange books and roses with their loved ones, has been the focus of the candidacy. In fact, UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day is celebrated on the 23^rd of April, the same day as the Saint Jordi celebrations.

Madonna, U2, Bjork and Kate Perry are just some of the international artists that chose Barcelona as their only stop in Spain on their international tours in 2015. During the first half of 2016, Adele and Coldplay's only tour dates in Spain will also be in Barcelona. The Catalan capital is also famous for its festivals, such as Primavera Sound, Sonar, Festival del Mil·leni and the International Jazz Festival, which attract hundreds of thousands of  people from all over the world. This Thursday, a less mass-oriented festival, Guitar BCN, announced its programme and it will also be able to count on international names. Former Oasis leader Noel Gallagher and his band High Flying Birds will be amongst them, as well as the emotional pop-rock of James Bay and the Cuban music ambassadors, Buena Vista Social Club, whom added Barcelona to the list of cities that will be part of their farewell tour. 

The Irish band didn’t fail to delight the 17,900 people that attended the band’s first of four shows in Barcelona, which are the only ‘The Innocence + Experience Tour’ dates in Spain. The show combined songs from their latest album, ‘Songs of Innocence’, with hits such as ‘With or Without You’, ‘One’ and ‘Beautiful Day’, amongst others. The audio-visual projections played a very important role during the entire show, with a big screen that melted with the band members at some points. U2, whose last visit to Barcelona was in 2009, have almost sold out all four shows. 

The 27^th of April is the feast day of the Mare de Déu deMontserrat,Our Lady of Montserrat, or as she is more affectionately called in Catalonia, la Moreneta, "the little dark-skinned one". One of the only black images of the Virgin Mary in Europe, the Virgin of Montserrat is the patron saint of all dioceses in Catalonia and together with St. George (Sant Jordi) is considered the patron saint of the territory. In recent history, she has also become a symbol for Catalan national identity and Catholic Catalan nationalism. Up in the mountains of Montserrat, the Santa María abbey celebrated on Monday with a mass dedicated to the Virgin, and outside in the main square there were numerous traditional activities including people making human towers (castells), music bands and food stalls, as well as groups dancing the traditional Catalan dance, La Sardana.