Sant Jordi - the Catalan Day of Books and Roses

Buenos días y hola a todos,

today I want to deal with a very special celebration for Catalan people: on the 23. of april, la gente in Catalonia celebrate a day, dedicated to Sant Jordi (or Saint George). It is - in some way - their version of the well-known Valentines day tradition. Nevertheless, they celebrate both of them :-) 

It is really amazing and pleasant to see, how proud people in Barcelona, and Catalonia in general, are of their heritage and their origins. Whenever there is a local festial in a city nearby or when it is time for one of the many regional holiday celebrations, every single person knows about it and will also participate. And by saying everybody, you can take me literally. Even one of my maths professors at the university in BCN reminded us students of the day and encouraged, well almost kindly forced us to go and join the event. I take this as an example, since I know, people in maths are often said to "live in their own world" and do not care about their surroundings etc., which in this case may be especially true for academic people in this field :-) But as I said, it is not!

The celebration

So how is this day actually celebrated in BCN? The tradition claims, that on Sant Jordi's, guys gift girls with roses as a symbol of love, and in return, they receive a book. This practice is not only common between couples and lovers, but it is also done as a nice gesture at work or between friends.
If you fear that you won't get a rose for your spouse on that day, don't worry. There are stalls, where they sell roses, on literally every corner in the city. If you are lucky, you can also get this rose in combination with a discount for a nice romantic dinner. So what else do you need for a perfect evening ;-)

Tables full of roses everywhere (and of course the Catalan flag for independency, the Estelada)

People got very creative to stand out of all the sellers

Books everywhere. Would be like heaven, if they weren't mainly in Catalan...

Entire BCN just gathering at La Rambla and Plaza Catalunya

The legend

And the history? One of the most "accepted" or told stories is that once, in an endless country, there was a city called Silene, which was threatened by a dragon. The dragon devoured all the animals on the fields. To calm him down, once in a while, a lamb and a virgin - yes, the classic virgin - where chosen to be sacrificed for the dragon. Unfortunately, the dicision on the choice of the virgin was done by lot. So of course, one day it had to happen that the local princess was chosen to be sacrificed. But fortunately, just when the dragon was about to swallow the princess, a courages knight - Sant Jordi - appeared and killed the beast with a lance. According to the legend, a rose bush started to grow exactly at the location where he stabbed that dragon.

So due to that legend, on the Day of the Rose you give a rose to your loved ones. 

Unfortunately nobody could really give a reason why girls give books to the guys on that day. The best explanation I have found has nothing to do with the legend of Sant Jordi. 

It happened, that on the 23. of April 1616, Cervantes, author of Don Quijote  and considered the Shakespear of Spain, had died. And, as it is done in honour of Shakespear in England, the 23. of April was chosen to be the national book day. So they have maybe just combined those two traditions.

Anyway, that's it on Sant Jordi's

Hasta ahora!

Tarragona - Catalonia´s Roman beauty

Bon día,

First of all I have toI know, it´s been a while since the last time I updated my blog, but too much is going on and I have been a bit busy during the last days. But here I am now.

Two weeks ago, I visited Tarragona, a small city about an hour down the coast starting from Barcelona. For those kind of day trips, taking the renfe is really a good option to travel, since it is definitely affordable (to Tarragona it was 7€ one-way). And public transport in general is pretty reasonable compared to Germany.

Amazing view through the Old Town on a beautiful day

Tarragona had its glory days back around Christ´s time, between 200 BC and 200 AD, where it was known as Tarraco. Back then, it was the capital of the Roman province Hispania citerior, or later known as Tarraconensis.

Spanish map during Roman times

Remainings of those times can still be seen in Tarragona today. Just by walking through the narrow streets of the old part of Tarragona, one can see amazing relicts of ancient times, and their beauty will surely leave you speechless. Ok, maybe I was a bit biased, since the weather was incredible and the sun put everything in grace, but still Tarragona is definitely worth a day-trip.

The amifiteatre romá. Unfortuately you have to pay to enter,
like it is for every place in Spain (at least it seems like)

Pretori romá in the upper right side

The place in front of the Torre del Pretori, where people where waiting for the easter ceremony

Narrow streets drawing their way through the old town.0

Fortunately, during the time I went to Tarragona I was able to see their typical Easter ceremony. While walking through the streets I caught myself wondering, where all the youngstes were, because you literally couldn´t see anybody between the age of 10 and 20. After a while, I found the answer: everybody was preparing for the ceremony.

The cathedral of Tarragona

Close-up

Another astonishing relict of Roman times is the Devil´s bridge, which used to be an aqueduct. I was lucky, because it had just recently reopened, so it was possible to walk on a man-made bridge older then 2 thousand years (before it was closed due to a suicidal act...). When I think about the fact, that this bridge was already standing there when Jesus Christ was born and it will probably also survive the next millenium, I can only step back, say "chapeau" and acknowledge what humans are capable of.

In front of the aqueduct with Zuza, a new-made friend from Poland

El Aqüeducte de les Ferreres, or "Pont del Diable" (Devil´s bridge)

 Finally to sum up, a little advice. If you ever go to Spain and see one of those beautiful orange trees in the city: DO NOT try to eat them :-) I do not honestly think that they are poisonous, but much too sour to be edible :-)

Delusive beauty

In this sense, see you next time.

Hasta ahora!