This gorgeous holiday comes from Catalonia, and even tho it’s not celebrated usually in Hungary we wanted to organize it and give an interesting, special experience to our clients, colleagues, and inquirers.
The origin of the event
This tradition comes from the famous legend of Saint George and the dragon. The knight defeated the dragon, who was terrorizing the village and the princess, and after penetrating the dragon with his sword, Saint George gave the princess one of the beautiful red roses that spilled out of the beast’s body. And also the old medieval tradition of visiting the Chapel of Sant Jordi in the Palacio de la Generalitat, where a rose fair or ‘lovers fair’ used to take place. This is why Sant Jordi is also the patron saint of lovers in Catalonia.
How this day look like in Barcelona
In Catalonia on the 23rd of April, the tradition is that sweethearts exchange roses and books, nowadays even loved ones or colleagues can do it. Men gave women roses, and women gave men books. In Barcelona this day the streets are full of musicians, flowers, stalls selling books and roses, as well as literary activities such as workshops and recitals. It is also easy to enjoy the ‘sardanas’ (traditional dances) and the houses covered by roses so it is the perfect day for walking around the city and enjoying the atmosphere of the festival.
How it was looked like in Collabor
In Collabor we celebrated this a bit differently but we kept the base of the tradition, we used roses and books. We decorated the office with roses and all the women colleagues and clients got a surprise rose. Besides that, instead of giving books, we organized a book-swapping day, which can follow later even with a day when we can have a discussion about the experiences with the books, and about different traditions.
If you want to experience similar special holidays, come visit us and join our community!