sant jordi

Along with other cities such as Madrid, Seville or Zaragoza, Barcelona and the neighbouring town of Granollers have played host to the Handball World Championship which comes to a climax this weekend in the Palau Sant Jordi in the Catalan capital. Last night, local handball fans watched as Spain and Germany battled it out to reach Friday’s semi-finals. Spain won 28-24 in a team featuring FC Barcelona players Victor Tomás, Albert Rocas and Daniel Sarmiento and now face Slovenia in tomorrow’s semi-final clash.

The opera is based on Vicente Ferrer, a Catalan who devoted his life to helping the poorest people in Anantapur, in India’s Andra Pradesh. Vicente Ferrer’s project brought aid to some 2.5 million people. He died three years ago. On the 1st of December, the “opera collage”, as its author Joan Martínez calls it, will be shown in Barcelona’s Sant Jordi pavilion. Martínez met Ferrer in India and created this show in his honour. ‘L’home del paraigua’ has already premiered at the Liceu Theatre in September 2010.

There is a special feel to the streets of Catalonia on 23rd April as for one day locals set aside their daily concerns to celebrate a unique tradition: Sant Jordi’s Day. Every 23rd April is awash with the colour of roses and the gleaming jackets of books hot off the presses. Tradition dictates that today is the day men give their loved ones a rose and in return women buy men a book. The results are spectacular as around 7 million roses and 1.7 million books are sold in the space of a single day.

Catalans traditionally exchange roses and books with their loved ones on 23rd of April. Streets and squares around the country fill with crowds in celebration of the National Day or ‘Diada’.

On the 29th of October 2010, Sting fans have an appointment with their idol at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. The author of ?Roxanne? and ?Englishman in New York? will sing together with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.