La Diada de Sant Jordi
I was looking through research on Catalan Feast days when I found ‘La Diada de Sant Jordi’ which I found very interesting.

This day, the 23rd April, is known as the ‘Day of Lovers’ and is often compared to our Valentines Day, however their tradition of exchanging gifts is a little different. Men give their sweethearts a rose, and women give their boyfriends a book. They give books because a bookseller in 1923 began to promote the holiday as a way to honour the simultaneous deaths of the two greatest men of literature: Miguel de Cervantes and Britain’s William Shakespeare, both deceased on April 23, 1616. As Barcelona was the publishing capital of the Spanish-speaking world, the fashion of exchanging books was quickly adopted to celebrate both love and literacy.

All over Catalonia, hundreds of flower stands selling roses and makeshift bookstalls are set up for the day. By the end of the day, almost four million roses and 400,000 books are purchased in the name of love. The amount of books sold on this day alone is just over half of the total yearly book sales in Catalonia! There is also a tradition of 24-hour reading sessions of Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes. The roses are presented together with a spike of wheat and a small red and yellow Catalonian flag. Ribbons are also used to tie together the roses, with printed words such as ‘Sant Jordi’ (Saint George), ‘Diada de la Rosa’ (Day of the Rose) an d ‘t’estimo’ (I love you).

This day is not an official non-working day, yet most people take the day off to enjoy it. The Sardana, the national dance of Catalonia, is performed throughout the day and dancers and musicians perform on nearly every Plaça. La Diada de Sant Jordi is the only day when the ‘Palau de la Generalitat’, Barcelona's main government building, is open to visitors. A huge display of roses honouring Saint George can be seen there. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ) has also made the 23rd April, the World Book and Copyright Day.

Below is a link to a mini video showing the grand scale of this event.

http://www.gencat.cat/catalunya/santjordi/eng/index.htm

Thanks, Chiara