Sant Jordi is already much more than roses and books. The legend and the symbols that keep it alive are taking over more and more spaces, and extend from street stalls to restaurants, museums, hotels, the world of retail and even hospitals. Sant Jordi invades everything. So much so, that the festival also raises its own controversies, such as the debate that has led to questioning the very name of the celebration and the link between the legend and Book Day.
However, the tradition of Sant Jordi dates back many years (in fact, Book Day was born connected to the festivity). April 23 was the day when, according to Christian legend, the knight died in the year 303, beheaded for refusing to persecute Christians, after a martyrdom that gave rise to multiple stories. The legend of that knight who killed a dragon to save a princess and the people it ravaged spread throughout medieval Europe on the back of the crusades, and became so popular that territories like England, and also what would become Catalonia, ended up adopting him as their patron. By then, the legend had long been not only told, since it was included in the compilation Legenda aurea, in which Iacopo de Varazze included the story of the knight around the distant year 1260 (then, without reference to the roses sprouted from the blood, which emerged later as a result of popular contribution).
Catalan devotion to Sant Jordi took root before the 15th century, and since then a mass has been celebrated in his honor on this April 23. However, Sant Jordi was not then a popular festival, but its celebration was rather reserved for the nobility of medieval Barcelona, and until the 18th century.
However, apart from Sant Jordi, one of the elements that continues to be a protagonist of the day did have a popular character that went beyond any social class: the rose. However, back then it was not the only protagonist, but rather it was mixed with an endless number of types of flowers that celebrated the arrival of spring. This welcoming of spring flowers has not only left its mark on Sant Jordi, but also on many other traditions of these months, such as Corpus Christi and its flower carpets and the May Cross garland. The thread of its origin can be stretched much further: already in Ancient Rome, festivities were held in honor of Flora, goddess of flowers, spring, and fertility, precisely between late April and early May. And another connection: the festival was known as Ludi Florae, from which the Jocs Florals take their name, millennia later.
In fact, 18th-century Barcelona hosted flower fairs in spring, such as the one set up in none other than the Pati dels Tarongers of the Palau de la Generalitat. There, it was a tradition for lovers to give flowers to their partners, bought within the walls of what is now the Generalitat, which continues to be one of the main settings for the festivity, centuries later. Within those walls, the red rose began to stand out among the other flowers due to the legend of Sant Jordi and that popular contribution that added to the original story the rosebush that sprang from the spilled blood of the dragon.
A century of books
The already popularized festival of the official patron saint of Catalonia was interrupted by war and political episodes, such as in 1714 and, later, with the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. But it was precisely during that period that the co-protagonist of the day came onto the scene: the book. In this case, its origin does have a proper name. It was that of the Valencian editor based in BarcelonaVicent Clavelwho proposed establishing a book day to promote reading, but it was not April 23: initially, October 7 was marked on the calendar, the (approximate) day of Cervantes' birth. The initiative was approved in the Book Chamber in 1926, precisely celebrating its centenary this year.It didn't take long to move the date from October to April 23, going from commemorating Cervantes' birth to the date of his death. With the arrival of the Second Republic, both dates coincided, with 1931 being the first year in which stalls of roses and books spread throughout the city. The explosion that has led to the current massive diada came after the Franco dictatorship, with decades during which the day has not stopped growing and overflowing more spaces until extending to unexpected places. Images of crowded streets and squares have been repeated for decades, in the same places where Barcelonans and visitors continue to stroll on April 23. Sant Jaume square and La Rambla were already essential spaces, and they continue to be so this 2026 (perhaps, the first year La Rambla is left without Sant Jordi, due to the works that promise to have it ready and in its best version next year).
While the city was already filled with roses and books that April 23, the festival took another leap in 1995, when UNESCO decreed it as the International Book Day, drawing from that tradition born in Barcelona and relying not only on the date of Cervantes' death, but also on that of other universal names in literature, such as Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. Thus, roses and books have found their meeting day in Sant Jordi, in an initially unplanned association but one that has given rise to a unique festivity that permeates the different layers of the city, merging culture, tradition, and symbols of love on the same day.
Now more than consolidated as one of the most emblematic dates on the Barcelona calendar, Sant Jordi continues to be celebrated in spaces that commemorate April 23rd for centuries, and extends through its streets not only as a symbol and a tradition, but as a sign of identity. From the medieval legend to the current festival, the city maintains its tradition while adapting it to each moment and making it dialogue with current trends, mutating and expanding while maintaining its essence as a festival of encounter and culture.