Days of books and roses

This is Josh reporting for Rachel and Zoë from Spain.

We have a new favorite holiday and we thought we'd share it with you. It's called Sant Jordi (yes, like our fair Utah city Saint George) and it is typically celebrated only in Catalonia, but we have decided that we are bringing it home with us.

The holiday is very romantic and is a little like Valentine’s Day for the Catalans. Traditionally, it is a holiday when the women receive roses and the men receive books. We saw several awesome older couples walking hand in hand with books and roses in their other hands. These days younger couples mix it up and everyone gets a little bit of everything.

Wheat is a symbol of Catalonia and all roses on Sant Jordi are accompanied by some wheat.


I get a kick out of seeing familiar media with unfamiliar titles.


We walked through a busy Barcelona book and flower market in the morning with Júlia.


And a smaller one in La Garriga town square later that day with Neus and Joan.

The Bagarias were nice enough to get Zoë a picture book about Sant Jordi with words in both English and Catalan and Rachel and I a book by Patrick O’Brian simply entitled The Catalans (look for that soon on Rachel’s Good Reads). Zoë’s picture book gives some insight into the history of the holiday. Apparently, a long time ago, a chivalrous knight named George slayed a dragon and saved a maiden. What that has to do with books and roses we aren't sure, but we aren't complaining.

Also, Rachel received a rose from a special admirer and Zoë was given a rose for free from a shopworker because she is just so dang cute. No special admirers got me a book, but the holiday did make it a little less strange for me to be reading the shooting script for The Big Lebowski on the train, since everyone else was reading too.

Happy Sant Jordi everyone! We'll be sure to let you know when it is coming around next year so that you can celebrate.