SANT JORDI FETE DU LIVRE ET DE LA ROSE

Books and roses for Sant-Jordi!

Once again this year, Saint-Cyprien will be hosting a host of events for young and old alike: readings, workshops, exhibitions... not forgetting, of course, the traditional exchange of roses and books!

The feast day of the patron saint of Aragon, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Catalonia, Sant-Jordi (St George) means that on 23 April, gentlemen give roses to ladies and ladies give books to gentlemen. This custom comes from the legend that a frightening dragon devoured human beings when it was hungry, and that certain people were even chosen by lot to satisfy it... But one day, it was the king's daughter who was chosen, and as she was preparing, resigned, to join the dragon, she came across the knight Jordi who decided, to save her, to confront the animal, whose head he ended up cutting off. Legend also has it that it wasn't blood that spurted from the dragon's neck, but hundreds of roses...
This is where the custom of offering roses (to ladies by gentlemen) comes from, followed later by the custom of exchanging books (from ladies to gentlemen).