Sant Jordi's Day, a long Catalan tradition that became international

By now, many countries celebrate the Day of the Book and the Rose also known as Sant Jordi's Day, a tradition that started in 303aC to recall Saint George's Death.

In November 1995, UNESCO declared 23rd April as the International Day of the Book and Author Rights. But everything started longer before in Barcelona, when the writer and publisher Vicent Clavel, suggested to the Publisher's Guild to celebrate the day of the Book. On 27th October in 1929, during the International Barcelona Expo, the publishers went on the streets to sell books. It was such a successful event, that they decided to move the date into springtime. The chosen date was April 23rd for many reasons: because it was already the Rose's Day and because probably the most famous writers had died on that date: Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.

Since then thousands of books are sold on that day. If you have never been to Barcelona in April 23rd we highly recommend you to do so! It's a must!

Then there's also the story of why we also give a rose to eachother that day, but that's is another story that started in XIVth century that we might tell you some other time...

Happy Sant Jordi's Day to everyone!