Pages

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Catalonian Legend of St. George's Day

Catalonia is an area in the North East part of Spain. The city of Barcelona is part of that region. Barcelona’s most romantic day of the year is St. George’s Day (Sant Jordi), which happens on April 23rd. The legend will explain.

Once upon a time, a terrible dragon terrorized the inhabitants of a small village in Catalonia. The dragon crated chaos among the population, consuming the animals until there were none left out on the pasture.

To calm the dragon's anger, the inhabitants of the village decided to sacrifice one person every day, chosen by drawing lots. Each day a person was provided to the dragon as a sign of people’s good will.

However, one dark day, the person chosen to be sacrificed was the king's daughter. Just when she was about to be swallowed up by the dragon, a courageous knight appeared and confronted the evil beast. This was Saint George. He thrust his lance into the dragon. Out of the blood that spurted forth grew a red rose bush. Since then, it has been the custom in Catalonia to present a rose to a loved one.

Saint George, the patron saint of Catalonia, as well as England and other countries, became the symbol of Catalonia during the Renaixença, a nineteenth century political and cultural movement that sought to reclaim the symbols of Catalan identity.
                                                              Sculpture of Saint George

No comments:

Post a Comment