With the 5-6 hours difference, happenings might be all over by now yet it's worth mentioning things that bring people and cultures together.
While the UK celebrates St Georges Day on April 23, Catalans honor the same saint with La Diada de Sant Jordi.
To cement the link Borough Market joined with the Government of Catalonia for a special
event, the Festival of Diverse Cities.
Earlier today, Borough Market which has links with La Boqueria in Barcelona was alive with music, theater and of course food demos and tastings.
Even the dragon was present, no slayings I hope.
Besides Sant Jordi being the patron saint of Catalans, I learned from Fiestas of Spain: La Diada de Sant Jordi (Don Quijote) that La Diada is also known as 'The Day of Lovers'. How is it celebrated?
Here's how Don Quijote highlights it:
their novias roses, and women give their novios a
book to celebrate the occasion. Due to popular legends about Barcelona,
roses have always been associated with this day since medieval times.
However, the giving of books as a gift is a more recent marketing twist
prominent of our times.
A smart bookseller began to promote the holiday in 1923 as a way
to honor the simultaneous deaths of the two greatest men of literature:
Spain’s Miguel de Cervantes and Britain’s William Shakespeare, both
deceased on April 23, 1616. Barcelona, being the publishing capital of the Spanish speaking world, quickly adopted this double punch of love and
literacy.
In Las Ramblas, Barcelona's principal street, as well as
all over the city, hundreds of flower stands selling roses and
makeshift bookstalls are hastily set up for the occasion. By the end of
the day, some four million roses and 400,000 books are purchased in the
name of love, registering half of the total yearly book sales of
Catalonia on this day alone! One might find it difficult to see a woman
without a rose in her hand, or a man walking by without a book."
Literature, roses, dragons, love and two people come together around one saint, quite an achievement.