Sant Jordi's Day

According to the legend, a dragon had been terrorizing the land and taking the most beautiful women with him. One by one, the women disappeared until the daughter of the king herself fell into the claws of the dragon. One sunny day, a knight by the name of Jordi appeared on a white horse. He confronted the dragon with his spear and, after a long battle, killed the beast. He freed the captive princess. As time went by, right where the dragon had been slain grew a rosebush with the most beautiful red roses that any one had ever seen. Since that day, Catalans celebrate Sant Jordi´s Day as a triumph of love over oppression.

Sant Jordi, master of Catalonia, it is today a popular holiday, civic and cultural that in the last years there is obtained an international recognition in different countries of the world. In 1995, the UNESCO instituted to instances of the Generalitat de Catalunya, April 23 day as the World Day of the Book and Author Laws. At present, Sant Jordi day celebration of the book and the rose, is complemented with the organization of various acts civic and cultural in all the Catalonian populations.