Sant Jordi is celebrated on 23 April in Barcelona, a working day when the city fills up with stalls of books and roses. The stalls spread mainly along the Rambla and the Passeig de Gràcia, and the classic custom has it as a book for him and a rose for her, though plenty of people give both, in both directions.
On 23 April, Barcelona does something no other city in the world does: it fills up with stalls of books and roses, end to end, and people spend the day giving each other both. It isn't a festival or a fair organised from above: it's a working day on which everyone, in their own way, buys a book. If it catches you here, it's probably the best day of the year to be in this city.
First came the rose
The rose side of things is the older one. The tradition's origins go back to the 15th century: Barcelona held a rose fair for Sant Jordi at the Palau de la Generalitat, attended mostly by sweethearts, the newly engaged, and young married couples.
The Catalan legend supplies the pretty explanation: from the blood of the beast run through with iron grew a rosebush that flowered every April. Hence the flower being a rose, and the day falling in April. Five centuries on, people still buy roses that day without a second thought.
The book arrived much later
The tradition of giving a book dates from the last century. In the 1920s, the Valencian writer Vicent Clavel Andrés proposed to the Cambra Oficial del Llibre de Barcelona and the Gremi d'Editors i Llibreters — the booksellers' and publishers' guilds — that they hold a festival to promote book sales in Catalonia.
The booksellers moved the date in 1930 and decided 23 April would be Book Day, marking the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes. In other words: the more famous half of Sant Jordi began as a commercial campaign by the booksellers' guild — and it worked so well that it's now part of the city's identity. In 1995 UNESCO officially declared 23 April World Book and Copyright Day, taking the date from here.
Where the celebration happens
The stalls spread mainly along the Rambla and the Passeig de Gràcia, but also through the surrounding squares and streets and the busiest spots in each neighbourhood. The Rambla is the nerve centre, and for that very reason the hardest place to move around.
The local's trick is not to go to the centre. Every neighbourhood sets up its own: in Gràcia, in Sant Antoni, in Sants, there are stalls with fewer crowds, the same books, and often the same authors signing them. You'll shop just as well and get home in a better mood.
How it feels from the inside
The classic custom has it as a book for him and a rose for her, and for a while now plenty of people do both, in both directions, or just books. What matters is that it's a day for giving, not for buying yourself something, and you can feel that in the street: the whole city is making the same gesture at the same time.
For anyone spending a while in Barcelona, Sant Jordi is the acid test of whether you're living here or just visiting. If you buy a rose that day for someone from the city, you're already in. It costs three euros, and it's by far the cheapest way there is to stop being a newcomer.
Quick questions
Where can you buy books on Sant Jordi in Barcelona without the crowds?
The Rambla is the nerve centre, and the hardest place to move around. In Gràcia, Sant Antoni, and Sants there are stalls with fewer crowds, the same books, and often the same authors signing them.
Why are books and roses given on 23 April in Barcelona?
The rose dates from the 15th century, when Barcelona held a rose fair for Sant Jordi. The book arrived in 1930: booksellers decided 23 April would be Book Day, marking the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.