Romans, Carla

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

T R A D I T I O N S  
S A I N T  GEORGE,  
CATALONIA'S PATRON 
S A I N T  AND S Y M B O L  
CATALONIA CELEBRATES HER FESTIVAL OF ROSES AND BOOKS ON 23 APRIL. THIS 
SPRING UNION BETWEEN NATURE AND CULTURE HAS CAPTIVATED MANY VISITORS. 
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, MIGUEL DE CERVANTES, GARCILASO DE LA VEGA AND 
JOSEP PLA ALL DIED ON 23 APRIL, FOR WHICH REASON UNESCO, ON 13 
NOVEMBER 1995, PROCLAIMED THIS DATE "WORLD DAY OF BOOK AND 
COPYRIGHT". 
CARLA R O M A N S  A U T H O R  
hroughout our recent history, the 
leed for national affirmation, a 
result of the lack of stable politi- 
CG, ,.ructures, has given Catalonia's sym- 
bols special importance. The case of Saint 
George, or Sant Jordi as he i s  called 
here, the patron saint of Catalonia, has 
always been an emblematic one. 
Saint George has had links with Catalo- 
nia from the very beginning. A thousand 
years ago, when Catalonia was taking 
shape, the cult of this saint spread with 
the reconquest of new territories by the 
Counts of Barcelona. Ever since then, the SANT JORDI. CASA AMETLLER. BARCEJONA 
red cross of Saint George has featured 
prominently on the capital's coat of arms. 
In fact, he was adopted as the patron 
saint of Catalonia in the thirteenth cen- 
tury, before his adoption by England. 
While the Castilian armies invoked Saint 
James as they joined battle, the war cry 
of the Catalan armies was a cal1 to Saint 
George. 
Although at first the saint was mainly 
venerated amongst the nobility due to his 
reputation as a knight, h is  following 
gradually spread to the population at 
large. In the fifteenth century the Catalan 
Court declared 23 April, Saint George's 
Day, a general cornpulsory holiday, add- 
ing that it was to be "perpetually lasting". 
But three centuries later, the Borbon king 
Philip V abolished it. 
In Catalonia, 23 April i s  the festival of the 
rose and the book. Legend has it that 
when the knight cut the dragonls head 
off, a red rose grew from the blood. Frorn 
the eighteenth century, Barcelona and 
other towns celebrated Saint George's 
Day with the sale of roses, and since the 
nineteen-twenties it has also been the 
book festival. Miguel de Cervantes died 
on 23 April, and what began as a Span- 
ish celebration becarne especially pop- 
ular in Catalonia. Today it has becorne a 
widespread tradition for lovers to give 
each other roses and books on this day. 
The streets are filled with stands with Cat- 
alan flags and sales of roses and books 
rocket: books are 10% cheaper than 
usual; roses with additions such as rnin- 
iature Catalan flags, on the other hand, 
are a little bit more expensive: all's fair 
in love and war). This festive spring union 
between nature and culture, syrnbol, na- 
tion and religion has captivated rnany vis- 
itors. In Japan, the custorn of celebrating 
Saint George's Day the way Catalonia 
does i s  fast catching on. 
The various activities that take place to 
rnark this celebration contrast with the lit- 
tle that i s  known about Saint George's 
life. We are not even certain where he 
was born, though it seerns to have been 
in Cappadocia, in the second century, 
into a farnily of the nobility. As an officer 
in the Rornan arrny, George refused to 
carry out the ernperor's orders to perse- 
cute the Christians. For this he was tor- 
tured, put to death three times, and three 
times he carne back to life. 
It was not until several hundred years la- 
ter that the well-known episode concern- 
ing the dragon was put about. This leg- 
end i s  connected with similar episodes 
in the life of heroes and gods like Horus, 
Hercules and Siegfried, so frequently de- 
picted in painting and sculpture by differ- 
ent cultures. According to the legend, 
Saint George saved the Princess of Sile- 
ne from the iaws of a hungry dragon who 
demanded a hurnan tribute from the 
townspeople. After a brief fight on horse- 
back, the knight thrust his spear into the 
dragon's rnouth and then cut its head off 
with h is  sword. 
In Eastern tradition, the dragon is  consid- 
ered a syrnbol of evil, of the devil, of the 
forces of darkness. In the Catalan collec- 
tive unconscious, it is  not difficult to iden- 
tify the struggle between a shrewd and 
valiant rnan who refuses to die and a 
powerful, tribute-seeking, aggressive and 
incornpetent rnonster: the conflict between 
the wish to be and the repressive force, 
between the stateless nation of Catalonia 
and the Spanish leviathan. It i s  no coin- 
cidence that to the Chinese and the Celts 
the dragon represents the Ernperor and, 
by extension, ornnipotence. In fact, since 
the Renaixenca, in the last century, the 
figure of Saint George has been explicitly 
represented as a symbol of Catalonia's 
struggle for freedom. And rernernber, of 
course, that the Catalan word "patró" 
(English patron or patron saint) also 
rneans a model of conduct. 
It i s  not surprising, then, that the narne of 
Saint George should appear in Catalan 
place and personal narnes far more fre- 
quently than in the rest of the Spanish 
state. Countless towns, shrines, military 
orders, associations, clubs and sports 
tearns have adopted it. The facade of the 
Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya 
features a prorninent carving of an 
equestrian Saint George, and the Saló de 
Sant Jordi (presided over by an image of 
the saint) is  where al1 the rnost irnportant 
events take place, including the cerernony 
to award the prestigious Sant Jordi med- 
als. The most ernblernatic building of the 
1992 Olyrnpic Garnes was the Palau 
Sant Jordi, and the Sant Jordi prizes are 
the rnost irnportant awarded for litera- 
ture in Catalan. Jordi was also the title of 
a noucentista weekly and Jordi is  the first 
narne of rnany Catalans today, amongst 
thern the President of the autonornous 
governrnent and also the son of Cruyff, 
Dutch trainer of such an unquestionably 
Catalan institution as Barcelona Football 
Club. 


Saint George, Catalonia's Patron Saint and Symbol

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Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert