Solidarity Rose for Sant Jordi

Next week is Sant Jordi in Catalunya, and is always a popular and well celebrated day. I compare it sometimes to England, as Saint George is also the patron saint of England, and the day goes by pretty much unnoticed. Ask any Catalan the date of Sant Jordi, and they'd tell you the 23rd April like a shot. I'd wager that around 20% of English would know!

As is customary with the day, Barcelona council supports a cause and promotes the idea on the web. This year the very worthy cause is the Solidarity Rose project which is in its 18th edition and is an initiative from amics del gent gran. The idea is that citizens buy either a rose or a book (as per the tradition) and take it to an elderly person they know, spend some time with them and thus raise awareness of the large numbers of old people who are lonely and much of the time alone. Participants are then encouranged to share their tale on Facebook and Twitter with hashtag #rosascontraelolvido. So you can take a real rose or you can pick up the one that has been made specifically for the day in many different outlets (200 in total including supermarkets, shops, etc.) and the price is 3,50€. Good idea I think and I hope it is a success. Being self employed I don't keep a strict clock with work, and have made lots of friends in and around my neighbourhood who are all retired and who I bump into a lot. I know that some of them are lonely despite having families here, so this is an even better idea for those people who have no-one.

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