Send a Personalised Message to Someone for Sant Jordi!

This coming week is one of the most colourful celebrations in the Catalan Calendar, Sant Jordi. It's a celebration of the patron saint of Catalunya and a patriotic day where everyone takes to the streets to buy a book and exchange a rose. Las Ramblas is a particularly cool place to visit on that day! There's a great explanation in English about the story behind the tradition here.

Now, with the modern age of connectivity and all things digital, the council usually also organises something on the website for people to join in, too. We've had virtual roses in previous years and there's an Instagram iniciative too again this year, for people to share their photos with the hashtag #JoxTu (me for you) and photos are published on the web.

So this year is no different, and you can send a personalised message to your friends or family or loved ones via the website here. It's based on the idea that "for you I'd..." with some funny ones like "I'd give up gossiping on facebook", "I'd bring you breakfast on the way back from a party" (classic Barcelona there, up till the dawn - although why this person wouldn't be with you at the party escapes me), "I'd miss Barça - Madrid" and "I'd change the cat's litter box" ! It's all a good bit of fun, and I like the way that the council has decided to share this in English, too, encouraging people to join in with the celebrations and embrace the tradition (unlike they do with La Merçe, for example). So go on, send someone a message!

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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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Virtual Roses for Sant Jordi 2010

Whether or not the council was worried that the Volcanic ash cloud would scupper plans of the importing of 6 million roses to be sold tomorrow or not, it looks like there'll be plenty to go around. And even if you can't buy a rose for your loved one, the city's website has got an even eco-friendlier (and cheaper) version to help you out!



That's right, through the wonders of modern internet connections, citizens can send their girlfriends, wives and lovers a virtual rose for Sant Jordi! Not only that, but you can choose the colour of the rose you'd like to send, too!! And it's so easy, even your grandmother could manage it (assuming she has an email account).

For those of you wondering what I'm jabbering on about, it's that tomorrow is Saint George's Day - patron saint of Catalonia. For more details and history, see my post last year or the photos I took on the same day.

Let's hope the weather holds out, as last year was a great sunshine day, but the forecast is not too great for tomorrow!! Happy Sant Jordi day everyone!!

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Sant Jordi Photos

Although I'm no photographer, I wanted to add a couple of photos to show you what Sant Jordi is all about. The patron Saint of Catalonia is Sant George and it's tradition for a rose to be presented to a woman and a book for a man (if you're curious as to why, check out my last post clicking on the link above!)


This year was really sunny, and a great day for walking around the city centre admiring the bookstalls and florists, especially those on Las Ramblas - which is closed to traffic for the day, too. Some of the flowers on sale were stunning, and multi-coloured, as I tried to show in the first couple of images here.


Everyone participates in the celebration, and there is a real festival feel to the city - kids of all ages from schools and abroad with paintings and pictures, and it's also a multi cultural event embraced by the locals and immigrants alike in the old town Raval for example - the next photo here to your left.



The book stalls on Las Ramblas and all around the city centre were as busy as ever:

The trees on Las Ramblas gave a welcome sahde from the sunshine beating down on the crowds.



Hope you like them!


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Sant Jordi, Books and Roses in Barcelona

This month sees a couple of public holidays in Catalonia, don't you just love April (and September) in Barcelona?! Apart from the Easter break we've just had, there's another perhaps more famous one to come.

The Patron Saint of Catalonia is Saint George, and on the 23rd April falls "Sant Jordi" - Saint George's Day - which is a real festival and celebration in Catalonia, with the capital Barcelona really going to town. Flags are hung out on balconies, hardly anybody goes to work, the bakers fill with "cocas" and it is tradition for boys to present a rose to the girls, representing the blood of the dragon slain by Saint George.

Gaudi himself even paid homage to Saint George on various occasions, with the rooftop of Casa Mila having it's central chimney as a George's cross, and nearby Casa Battló's rooftop having an uncanny resemblance to a dragon's scaly back.

So after the presentation of the rose, the boys receive in return perhaps a strange comparison - a book -until you realise that the 23rd April is also the anniversary of Spain's most famous Author, Miguel Cervantes - Spain's Shakespeare if you like. The days around San Jordi see the streets of Passeig de Gracia and many other open spaces such as Portal del Angel and the Cathedral fill with mobile bookstores, and needless to say Las Ramblas itself is a sea of people with different coloured roses. It's a fantastic spectacle to see, and the local TV stations such as TV3 and 33 often have cameras around the city, or even despite the weather last year in Plaça Catalunya for bird's eye coverage of the celebrations.

Sant Jordi is a great time to visit Barcelona, and if you happen to be visiting the city at this time, I'm sure you'll be overwhelmed by the sheer presence of the locals in the streets - it's a real celebration of culture. Why not look into apartments for rent in Barcelona if you're thinking of coming to the city ? If you're lucky enough to get an apartment located withing the old town, near to Las Ramblas, you'll be able to see all the fun from your own apartment balcony or window!