Many years ago, at least twenty, the then editor-in-chief of this section fired at the journalist in charge of writing the chronicle of Sant Jordi’s day with a question as brief as the subsequent answer was:
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–“What is the thesis?”
– “Books and roses”
Since the beginning of the millennium, the essence of this unofficial holiday of tolerated work shirking has not changed. If anything, Sant Jordi has become hyper-commercialized while also becoming more supportive and inclusive. It has grown, becoming gigantic, to the point of making us seriously doubt for a few hours that Barcelona is a city of just over 1.7 million inhabitants.
A new type of tourist exclusive to this day emerges: the hunter of autographs and ‘selfies’ with favorite authors
The essence of Sant Jordi, surprisingly and unfairly battered on this occasion by a couple of prestigious local Grinches eager to make a statement, remains unalterable, although the packaging offers some novelty each year determined by varied weather, typical of this spring transition period. This time, at least in Barcelona, it has not rained, nor has the cold or heat been excessive, but a storm of plane tree fruit, not pollen, triggered by very generous rainfall in previous months and topped off by a constant wind, with gusts close to 50 kilometers per hour in some parts of the city, has made the day unsuitable for allergy sufferers. For days, a carpet of yellowish substance spread in tree pits, sidewalks, and next to building facades already made people fear the worst.
The massive influx to many areas of the city makes one doubt that Barcelona has only 1.7 million inhabitants
At times, walking through the streets, sitting on a terrace to have a beer (with additives fallen from the trees), or queuing to get the signature of the trendy author has become uncomfortable, even unpleasant. We can attest that pharmacies have broken sales records for eye drops and antihistamines, and many passersby have today resumed the habit of wearing a mask. Eyes, throats, and nostrils have suffered as rarely remembered in Barcelona on this day of general sneezing. And yet, almost no one – not even our beloved Grinches – has wanted to give up the celebration.
Some distracted person searches in vain in a Rambla full of trenches and fences for an interrupted tradition
Sant Jordi is books and roses, but also specialties and offers of all kinds, in pharmaceutical products, in perfumeries, in beauty salons, in fashion stores, in bakeries and pastry shops, in restaurants, which in some cases this midday have managed to chain three and even four shifts.
Barcelonans don’t even seem to have cared too much that La Rambla was removed by imperative of the logic of the works from the list of venues for an increasingly decentralized Sant Jordi with more activity in the neighborhoods. A phenomenon perfectly compatible with the definitive consolidation of what has come to be called the superilla literary of the Eixample. It has been five consecutive years since the first major post-COVID civic celebration closed this area of Passeig de Gràcia and Rambla Catalunya to traffic, a magnificent invention except for those masochists who, even on a day like this, insist on accessing the city center by private vehicle.
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And there are people for everything, even to confuse a dinosaur with a dragon and walk around in a loving T-Rex costume with a flower in hand. Or to replace beer cans with roses for one euro as street vending merchandise, despite the vigilance of the Guardia Urbana. Or to become pioneers of a new type of city visitor, the literary tourist capable of traveling from the Meseta or even from across the Atlantic to participate in a hunt for selfies and autographs with their favorite writers or to share a few hours with those they discovered, far from Barcelona, in their reading clubs.
Books, roses… and rain of plane tree fruits on a day that excluded a Rambla under construction
In an impassable Rambla, where work is being done non-stop to finish the reform before the May 2027 elections, some distracted person searched in vain among trenches, fences, and heavy machinery for a stall of roses or books and lamented the loss. This is what always happens with La Rambla, a place where it seems that any past time was better, even if it wasn’t.
Given the good public response to the installation of stalls in Plaça Catalunya and Portal de l’Àngel, and judging by the comments of some municipal officials, one has more than reasonable doubts that La Rambla, the new Rambla that we will inaugurate in 2027, will experience a Sant Jordi like those of before. If anything, the florists on the promenade, who temporarily moved to Plaça Catalunya a few weeks ago and today had the opportunity to show Barcelonans that they have not closed down, that they are still alive, might be able to.
Meanwhile, on Passeig de Gràcia, the rose facade of Casa Batlló, once again, has become the most captured image by mobile phone cameras. The curiosity aroused by this essential part of every Sant Jordi since 2016 is inversely proportional to the public’s indifference towards the stalls of political parties, who nevertheless do not give up making an appearance on the street during this day, just as they will not give up opening their booths at the Feria de Abril de Catalunya starting tomorrow night.
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