The Day of Books and Roses
La Diada de Sant Jordi
Statusactive
Genrefestival
Date(s)April 23
Frequencyannually
Venuestreets of Catalonia
Location(s)Catalonia
CountrySpain
InauguratedOctober 7, 1926 (1926-10-07)
FounderVicente Clavel and the Catalonia Chamber of Books

The Day of Books and Roses, April 23, is celebrated in Catalonia, Spain. This day is also known as La Diada de Sant Jordi in Catalan. On this day, love and literature are celebrated throughout Catalonia. Books and roses are exchanged.

Contemporary celebration

A young person sells a rose to an elderly person at a rose stall. Sounded by roses and an white umbrella for shade.
Selling roses on April 23, 2008, in Barcelona
An author signs a book at a table seated by other authors and surrounded by a crowd.
Author Clara Queraltó signing a book in Catalonia on April 23, 2018

April 23 is one of the most important days in Catalan culture[1] when people exchange books and roses. Preparations for the Day of Books and Roses begins well before April 23.[2] In Barcelona, the city is papered with posters in all neighborhoods, and the central activity is in La Rambla, the Passeig de Gràcia, and Rambla de Catalunya.[2] On the sidewalks tents are set up from which books and red roses are sold.[2][3] Bookstores bring their materials outside, and various associations, unions, and schools line the streets at tables. Also, there are small tables of illustrators and authors selling and signing their books.[2] Even though there is considerable activity in the streets, bookstores are also crowded on this day with lines extending outside.[2]

Since 1997 the official slogan of the day has been "A rose for a love, and a book forever".[4]

Schools in Catalonia prepare for the day with numerous activities related to books and literature.[2]

The day generates considerable economic activity for authors, publishers, and booksellers. For example, in Catalonia on April 23, 2016, more than 1,580,000 copies of 45,267 book titles were sold, and 54 percent of these were in the Catalan language.[2] Annually, approximately 8 percent of books sold in Catalonia—1.5 million—are sold on this day, as are a third of all roses.[5][6]

In 2015, the Barcelona-based Diplocat Consortium (Catalan government) launched an effort to internationalize the Day of Books and Roses. The campaign uses the hashtag #BooksAndRoses to bring attention to events, activities, and celebrations outside of Catalonia.[7][8]

History

A building in central Barcelona that is covered in thousands of roses.
Casa Batlló adorned with roses on April 23, 2016

Day of the Book

In 1923, Vicente Clavel, a Valencian writer, editor, and the director of the Cervantes publishing house in Barcelona, first proposed Book Day.[9] A decision was not made and the proposal languished; however, in 1925, he raised the idea with the Catalan Chamber of Books, of which he was vice president, and finally in February 1926 a decision was made to create and promote a day dedicated to books on October 7.[2][10][11][12] October 7 is believed by some people to be the birth date of the writer Miguel de Cervantes.[9] Clavel and the Chamber of Books also lobbied for Day of the Book at a national level; as a result, that same year, King Alfonso XIII of Spain signed a decree designating October 7 as Book Day.[12] The day after the second annual Book Day, on October 8, 1927, the Barcelona newspaper, La Vanguardia published, "Barcelona celebrated Book Day with real fervor yesterday. A festival of civility and intelligence, it has quickly taken root in the soul of the city. From last year—when it was held for the first time—to this year, the progress is extraordinary" (translated).[11]

Day of the Rose and Sant Jordi's legend

Detailed painting shows the knight on a white horse slaying a dragon with the princess, dressed in royal robes looking on from the upper right corner. A castle is in the background.
Bernat Martorell painting of Sant Jordi, the dragon, and the princess. Probably commissioned by the Catalan government in c. 1434

Before 1931, April 23 was known as the Day of the Rose or Sant Jordi's Day in Catalonia (Saint George or San Jorge in other regions of Spain and Europe).

The story begins with real events on April 23, 303 AD, when Romans beheaded a soldier named George, probably in Greece.[13][1] The story of this knight then developed into a legend over hundreds of years. In Catalonia the legend involved Sant Jordi killing a dragon and saving a princess.[13] When Jordi slew the dragon, a rose bush grew from the blood of the dragon, and the knight presented one of these roses to the princess.[13] According to legend, a rose bush grows there every April.[1]

The legend of the saint spread throughout the Principality of Catalonia until, in 1456, he was named the patron saint of Catalonia, and the annual commemoration with roses began. The first Catalan printed book was published in 1474.[14]

In the early 1700s, with the fall of the city of Barcelona and the ascension of the Bourbons to the Spanish throne, Sant Jordi's day began to fall out of favor. It was not until the end of the 1800s, with the Renaixença, that Sant Jordi’s day regained its previous popularity within Catalonia.[13]

The merging of important days and traditions into one holiday featuring books and roses

A circle of people, dressed in traditional Catalan clothing, dance in a circle holding hands.
Dancing on April 23, 1970, in Barcelona

In 1931, five years after the establishment of the Day of the Book, the event was moved from October 7 to April 23 at the request of booksellers to coincide with the anniversaries of the deaths of Cervantes and Shakespeare.[2] The day quickly grew in popularity because it also coincided with St. Jordi's Day and the Rose Festival, which had been celebrated for hundreds of years.[2]

Although the Day of Books and Roses quickly grew in popularity, under the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco, from 1936 to 1975, Catalan language and culture was repressed,[15][14] and Sant Jordi celebrations were prohibited.[13]

In 1995, UNESCO adopted April 23 as World Book Day and decreed the book as the most important instrument in the dissemination of knowledge.[2] In 2015 Barcelona was named as a UNESCO City of Literature; central to the candidacy was the unique celebration of books and roses.[16][17] In 2017, a group of Catalan publishers, booksellers, florists, and other professionals presented an application to UNESCO to have the Day of Books and Roses recognized as Intangible Heritage.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 ARA (April 21, 2022). "Why do we celebrate Sant Jordi?". Ara in English. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Travancas, Isabel; Scherer, Marta (2018). "Sant Jordi Festival at the Vanguardia newspaper". Intercom: Revista Brasileira de Ciências da Comunicação. 41 (3): 121–135. doi:10.1590/1809-5844201837. S2CID 189509402.
  3. ↑ Llobera, Josep R. (October 1, 2004). Foundations of National Identity: From Catalonia to Europe. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-78920-590-9. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  4. ↑ Gordan, Lucy (April 2002). "Books and Roses in Barcelona". Gale Database. Delegation of the European Commission.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Alex (April 5, 2018). Book Towns: Forty-Five Paradises of the Printed Word. Quarto Publishing Group USA. ISBN 978-1-78101-242-0.
  6. ↑ "About #BooksAndRoses | #BooksAndRoses". Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  7. ↑ "#BooksAndRoses | Dia Mundial del Llibre i dels Drets d'Autor de la UNESCO". Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  8. ↑ Diplocat. "Catalonia's Day of Books and Roses will be celebrated in more than 300 events all around the world | Activities". Diplocat. Archived from the original on May 16, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  9. 1 2 ValenciaBonita (April 23, 2017). "¿Sabías que el Día del Libro es un invento del valenciano Vicente Clavel Andrés?". valenciabonita (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Sant Jordi book | Cultura Popular". www.barcelona.cat. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Bibliografía general española e hispano-americana (in Spanish). Cámaras Oficiales del Libro. 1927.
  12. 1 2 "BOOK BUFF VICENTE CLAVEL, FATHER OF WORLD BOOK DAY". Guidepost. April 25, 2021. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Reed, Susan (April 23, 2018). "La Diada de Sant Jordi: a History of Saint George's Day Celebrations in Catalonia". British Library European Studies. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  14. 1 2 Miller, Henry; Miller, Kate (January 1, 1996). "Language Policy and Identity: the case of Catalonia". International Studies in Sociology of Education. 6 (1): 113–128. doi:10.1080/0962021960060106. ISSN 0962-0214. Archived from the original on August 4, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  15. ↑ Mir i Curcó, Conxita (2008). "The Francoist Repression in the Catalan Countries". Catalan Historical Review (1): 133–147. doi:10.2436/20.1000.01.9. ISSN 2013-407X. S2CID 54980776.
  16. ↑ Marques, L. (January 2019), Jenkins, I.; Lund, L. A. (eds.), "The making of the literary city: Edinburgh, Barcelona and Óbidos.", Literary tourism: theories, practice and case studies (1 ed.), UK: CABI, pp. 57–70, doi:10.1079/9781786394590.0057, ISBN 978-1-78639-459-0, S2CID 199931401, retrieved February 20, 2023
  17. ↑ "Barcelona becomes a UNESCO City of Literature". www.catalannews.com. December 11, 2015. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  • Short video about the day
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