AH, BUT I MAY AS WELL, TRY AND CATCH THE WIND...

Today is a special day for the city of Barcelona because it celebrates one of its three patron saints, Santa Eulàlia, the patron saint most beloved by Barcelona residents who know the history of the city and are aware of the symbolic and cultural importance of this religious figure.

The Grandma had planned to go out to enjoy the day and honour her patron saint but a strong wind advisory has stopped all outdoor events so she has stayed home reading and listening to songs that refer to the wind such as Wind of Change by Scorpions, Sempre Hi Ha Vent by Maria del Mar Bonet, Veles e Vents by Ausiàs Marc, Blowin' in the Wind by Bob Dylan, Candle in the Wind by Elton John, Against the Wind by Bob Seeger, The Wind by Cat Stevens, Wild Is the Wind by Nina Simone, Ride the Wild Wind by Queen, and one of her favourites Dust in the Wind by Kansas, a song that reminds us that time passes (tempus fugit) and we are an insignificant part of the universe. Although they are all beautiful and she can't just decide one, she has thought that today she would choose Catch The Wind by Donovan because it reminds her of the Joan Baez concert for her 75th birthday.

Despite hearing Joan Baez later at the Palau de la Música Catalana and at Festival Jardins de Pedralbes in Barcelona, at the Terramar Festival in Sitges, and at Portaferrada Festival in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, she didn't play it again in none of these four places.

Catch the Wind is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. Pye Records released Catch the Wind backed with Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do? as Donovan's debut release in the United Kingdom on 28 February 1965. The single reached No. 4 in the United Kingdom singles chart. Hickory Records released the single in the United States in April 1965, where it reached No. 23 in the United States Billboard Hot 100.

The single version of Catch the Wind was recorded at Olympic Studios in London. Donovan played guitar and sang on the recording, and was accompanied by nine session musicians: four viola players, four violin players and a string bass player. According to Donovan biographyer Lorne Murdoch, the string arrangement on the single version was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with an arrangement written by Ken Lewis of the Ivy League. He additionally opined that Donovan's commercial recording career commenced with the recording of Catch The Wind in February 1965.

In May 1965, Pye Records released a different version of Catch the Wind on Donovan's debut LP record album What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid, retitled Catch the Wind in the US. While the single version featured vocal echo and a string section, the album version lacked those elements and instead featured Donovan playing harmonica.

Cash Box described it as a medium-paced, folk-styled low-down bluesey romancer, with a Bob Dylan-like vocal. Record World likewise described it as Dylanesque.

When Epic Records was compiling Donovan's Greatest Hits in 1968, the label was either unable or unwilling to secure the rights to the original recordings of Catch the Wind" and Donovan's follow-up single, Colours. Donovan re-recorded both songs for the album, with a full backing band including Big Jim Sullivan playing guitar and Mickie Most producing.

In the chilly hours and minutes
Of uncertainty, I want to be
In the warm hold of your loving mind

To feel you all around me
And to take your hand, along the sand
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

When sundown pales the sky
I want to hide a while, behind your smile
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find

For me to love you now
Would be the sweetest thing
That would make me sing
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind

When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near, to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind

For standin' in your heart
Is where I want to be, and I long to be
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind

More information: Song of the Day for Today

The way I sing my songs leads the listener 
into a place of introspection, 
a state of mind that can trigger self-healing 
and the kind of profound rest 
you cannot get from sleep alone.

Donovan

LA NIT DE REIS N'ÉS VINGUDA / EPIPHANY HAS ARRIVED

Today, temperatures have plummeted and it is snowing all over Catalonia at low altitudes.  

 

Barcelona is, for the moment, an exception and this is especially pleasing to The Grandma, who despite being born in the country of the Pyrenees, does not like snow or extreme cold. Tonight will be a very special night for the little ones and The Grandma will participate, as every year, in the cavalcade of her neighbourhood, distributing smiles, candies and working all night so that the solidarity of the neighbours becomes an illusion for the children who will anxiously wait tomorrow to see what the Three Wise Men have brought them.

Every January 5th at night, The Grandma remembers her great-grandmother when she recited some verses from the poem by Dolors Monserdà "Nit de Reis".

Bona Nit de Reis a tothom!

Dins d'un piset xic i pobre
que hi ha a peu pla d'un terrat,
treballa una pobra dona,
treballa sens parar.
Si algun cop minven ses forces,
no desmaia, no, que sap
que al mirar a sa filleta,
les tornarà a recobrar.

Diuen tots quants la coneixen
que hermosa ha estat sens igual:
avui d'aquella hermosura
sols per record li han quedat,
unes trenes ondejades,
negres, sedoses, brillants,
que, a l'estendre's damunt d'ella
a besar ses plantes van.

La nit de Reis n'és vinguda,
i sembla que amb més afany,
treballa la pobra mare,
tot mirant-se el seu infant.
–Mareta, li diu la nina,
fiqueu-me al llit, que és prou tard,
i tinc por vindran los Reis
i encara no hi hauré anat.
–Qui sap si vindran, filleta!
lo nostre pis, és tan alt!
–Prou, com que baixen del cel,
ja els hi ve bé de passar!
i a fe mare que els espero
amb gran desig aquest any.
Vull que em portin una nina
com aquella que hi ha a baix!
–Les nines, són per les nenes
que ja res falta els hi fa;
tu fill meu, que estas descalça
los hi tens que demanar
que et portin sabates noves.
–Ai, mare, no em feu plorar!
ja n'estic aconhortada
de caminar a peu descalç,
de portar robeta vella,
de morir-me treballant;
però que em dugan la nina
que jo sempre he demanat!
Des de l'any que van portar-la
a la nena que està a baix,
jo hi he pensat cada dia,
jo de nit l'he somniat.
Ai, mare, i que n'és d'hermosa!
i que bonica que va!
Té una careta tan fina,
que sembla de setí blanc,
té una boqueta petita,
que fins dentetes hi ha!
Obre els ulls quan està dreta,
i, per dormir, els té tancats,
té uns cabellets com de seda
i els té rossos i rissats,
porta lo vestit amb róssec
i amb serrells i farbalans,
i fins mitges i polaques,
i fins sombrero, i fins guants!
Jo en vull una com aquella,
que tot l'any l'he demanat!
puix si demà quan me llevi,
la nina no haig de trobar,
com que de nit la somnio,
la toco i la duc a braç,
pregaré a Déu que al dormir-me
mai me torne a despertar!

Un gran crit llancí la mare,
del fons del cor arrencat,
i agafant a sa filleta
i estrenyent-la amb fort abraç:
–Vés-te'n al llit, amor meva
li digué amb febrós afany,
vés, mes a Déu no demanis
que no et vulla despertar,
que la nina que tu esperes,
com la desitges tindràs.
Quan tot just lo dia apunta,
ja la nena s'ha llevat;
plora i riu i salta i brinca,
i el que li passa no sap.
Li han portada aquella nina
que ella tant ha demanat:
li han portada i té la cara
que sembla de setí blanc,
té una boqueta petita
que fins dentetes hi ha!
porta vestidet amb róssec
i amb serrells i farbalans,
i fins mitges i polaques,
i fins sombrero; i fins guants!
Res li manca, res li manca
de quant ella ha demanat;
sols li falten a la mare,
les trenes negres, brillants,
que fins a terra arribaven,
que hermosejaven son cap,
que entre mig de sa pobresa
les havia tant guardat!

More information: EWTN

The star burned like a flame, 
pointing the way to God, the King of kings; 
the wise men saw the sign and brought 
their gifts in homage to their great King.

The Liturgy of the Hours, Epiphany

THE LEONIDS & THE METEOR SHOWERS OF STORM OF 1833

It is believed that there are about forty sextillion stars in our universe. Some are visible to the naked eye, others belong to more distant galaxies, but sometimes wonderful phenomena occur when specific stars suddenly appear, shining more intensely than ever in different places with common meaning. It can be a Universal Star or a Northern Star and both have the same effect on those who see them: admiration, happiness and nostalgia.

Barcelona has received the impact of two stars in the same week. It has been very emotional, although it is not usual, nor was the Leonid shower that occurred in the American continent on a day like today in 1833.

The Leonids are a prolific annual meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle, and are also known for their spectacular meteor storms that occur about every 33 years.

The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation Leo: the meteors appear to radiate from that point in the sky. The name is derived from Greek and Latin with the prefix Leo- referring to the constellation and the suffix -ids signifying that the meteor shower is the offspring of, descendant of, the constellation Leo.

Earth moves through meteoroid streams left from passages of a comet. The streams consist of solid particles, known as meteoroids, normally ejected by the comet as its frozen gases evaporate under the heat of the Sun once within Jupiter's orbit. Due to the retrograde orbit of 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, the Leonids are fast moving streams which encounter the path of Earth and impact at 252,000 km/h. It is the fastest annual meteor shower. Larger Leonids which are about 1 cm across have a mass of 0.5 g and are known for generating bright (apparent magnitude -1.5) meteors. An annual Leonid shower may deposit 12-13 t of particles across the entire plant.

The meteoroids left by the comet are organized in trails in orbits similar to-though different from-that of the comet. They are differentially disturbed by the planets, in particular Jupiter, and to a lesser extent by radiation pressure from the Sun -the Poynting-Robertson effect and the Yarkovsky effect. These trails of meteoroids cause meteor showers when Earth encounters them. Old trails are spatially not dense and compose the meteor shower with a few meteors per minute. In the case of the Leonids, that tends to peak around 18 November, but some are spread through several days on either side and the specific peak changes every year. Conversely, young trails are spatially very dense and the cause of meteor outbursts when the Earth enters one.

The Leonids also produce meteor storms (very large outbursts) about every 33 years, during which activity exceeds 1,000 meteors per hour, with some events exceeding 100,000 meteors per hour, in contrast to the sporadic background (5 to 8 meteors per hour) and the shower background (several meteors per hour).

The Leonids are famous because their meteor showers, or storms, can be among the most spectacular. Because of the storm of 1833 and the developments in scientific thought of the time, the Leonids have had a major effect on the scientific study of meteors, which had previously been thought to be atmospheric phenomena. Although it has been suggested the Leonid meteor shower and storms have been noted in ancient times, was the meteor storm of November 12-13, 1833 that broke into people's modern-day awareness. One estimate of the peak rate is over one hundred thousand meteors an hour, while another, done as the storm abated, estimated in excess of 240,000 meteors during the nine hours of the storm, over the entire region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

The event was marked by several nations of Native Americans: the Cheyenne established a peace treaty and the Lakota calendar was reset. Many Native American birthdays were calculated by reference to the 1833 Leonid event. Abolitionists including Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass as well as slave-owners took note and others. 

The New York Evening Post carried a series of articles on the event including reports from Canada to Jamaica, it made news in several states beyond New York and, though it appeared in North America, was talked about in Europe. The journalism of the event tended to rise above the partisan debates of the time and reviewed facts as they could be sought out. 

Abraham Lincoln commented on it years later. Near Independence, Missouri, in Clay County, a refugee Mormon community watched the meteor shower on the banks of the Missouri River after having been driven from their homes by local settlers. Joseph Smith, the founder and first leader of Mormonism, afterwards noted in his journal for November 1833 his belief that this event was a litteral [sic] fulfillment of the word of God and a harbinger of the imminent second coming of Christ. Though it was noted in the midwest and eastern areas, it was also noted in Far West, Missouri.

Denison Olmsted explained the event most accurately. After spending the last weeks of 1833 collecting information, he presented his findings in January 1834 to the American Journal of Science and Arts, published in January-April 1834, and January 1836. He noted the shower was of short duration and was not seen in Europe, and that the meteors radiated from a point in the constellation of Leo and he speculated the meteors had originated from a cloud of particles in space. 

Accounts of the 1866 repeat of the Leonids counted hundreds per minute/a few thousand per hour in Europe. The Leonids were again seen in 1867, when moonlight reduced the rates to 1,000 meteors per hour. 

Another strong appearance of the Leonids in 1868 reached an intensity of 1,000 meteors per hour in dark skies. It was in 1866-67 that information on Comet Tempel-Tuttle was gathered, pointing it out as the source of the meteor shower and meteor storms. When the storms failed to return in 1899, it was generally thought that the dust had moved on and the storms were a thing of the past.

More information: Sky and Telescope

 The stars look the same from night to night. 
Nebulae and galaxies are dully immutable, 
maintaining the same overall appearance 
for thousands or millions of years. 
Indeed, only the sun, moon and planets 
-together with the occasional comet, 
asteroid or meteor- seem dynamic.

Seth Shostak

MERCÈ RODOREDA & EL PREGÓ DE LES FESTES DE LA MERCÈ

Today is a special day in Barcelona. The city celebrates one of its three patron saints, La Mercè.

The city is not having its best moments and we, Barcelonans, miss the cultured, creative, innovative, cheerful, full of life, clean, and safe Barcelona, the city that was proud of being the Catalan capital. 

The city is still under the shadows of the dark power. That is why today, The Grandma has remembered one of the best readings ever made in the city, the one made in 1980 by Mercè Rodoreda, the most universal Catalan writer.

 

Barcelonines, barcelonins

Si em trobo aquí, en aquest històric Saló de Cent, per pronunciar el pregó de les Festes de la Mercè, és perquè el senyor batlle i tot el seu consistori m'ho van demanar. I van demanar-m'ho amb tanta elegància, que hauria estat una gran descortesia per part meva no acceptar. De moment vaig creure que jo no era la persona més indicada, d'altres podrien sortir-se'n més airosament que jo; però, reflexionant, vaig pensar que potser sí. I per tres raons: pel fet de ser barcelonina, per dir-me Mercè i per dur Catalunya dintre meu.

Us puc assegurar que, durant anys, l'allunyament del meu país va aprofundir el meu amor per Barcelona, per la Barcelona catalana de la meva joventut. Amb els seus carrers, amb les seves places, amb la seva càrrega d'història, amb la seva bona gent. El meu barri de Sant Gervasi, tocant a la vila de Gràcia, amb el carrer Elisa, amb la plaça de la Bonanova, amb els Josepets i amb tants camps de flors. La Barcelona d'una determinada claror en una determinada tarda a la Plaça de Catalunya amb el cel ratllat per tropes i tropes d'estornells cridaners; amb una determinada claror a la falda verda del Tibidabo, Passeig de Gràcia amunt, en un acabament de dies amb una determinada claror d'un matí de març amb el sol entaforat a dintre d'una branca a dalt de tot d'una paret. Les petites torres del meu Sant Gervasi, polides i netes, amb els seus jardins assolellats, ventejats i florits.

Lluny del meu país no em feia mal l'enyorament. Em feia mal la tristesa pel destí tan dur dels catalans. Quan havíem aconseguit que la nostra identitat fos acceptada i reconeguda, ens ho van fer tot a miques, ens ho van prendre tot. Vam haver d'enterrar la il·lusió de ser simplement un poble que treballa i viu en català i per Catalunya.

Ha estat llarg el temps de ser tinguts com a ciutadans d'ínfima categoria, amb la nostra llengua prohibida i escarnida. Humiliats. Però enmig de l'enfonsament, no vam cedir. No podíem deixar-nos vèncer per l'adversitat. Ofegats, escampats, vam continuar pensant en el nostre país, treballant pel nostre país. Tant els de dintre com els de fora. Som catalans i jo diria que la tenacitat és la nostra divisa. I l'espera ens ha valgut un miracle. Jo crec en miracles, i el miracle ha començat: tenim un govern de patriotes, de gent profundament catalana i tenaç, amb unes arrels catalanes que ningú ni res no ha pogut arrencar. Tenim, tots, una tasca a emprendre, una tasca difícil i per això apassionant: ajudar. Tots hem desitjat en un moment o altre de la nostra vida una ciutat ideal, una pàtria ideal: la més alta i la més bella. Com diu patriòticament un dels nostres poetes: "Salut a la pàtria en segles de saba crescuda, salut a la Pàtria encara no nascuda com l'hem somniada els seus fills". Aquesta pàtria ideal nosaltres l'hem de fer! Tots els que vindran darrere de nosaltres, generació darrera generació, lligats tots pel mateix desig. De cara, avui, a una nova renaixença.

De vós, Mare de Déu de la Mercè, daurada i reposada a dintre de la vostra església amb l'Infant Jesús a la falda, jo n'havia tingut la imatge, de petita i de jove, en el meu dormitori, a dintre d'una vitrina, tota vestida de setí brodat d'or i de perles, de pedres tallades lluents de color de gra de magrana, coronada d'argent. Als vostres peus, agenollats un a cada banda, hi havia dos captius: un amb l'armilla morada i pantalons bombats verd fosc, l'altre amb pantalons bombats morats i armilla verd oliva. Tots dos amb camisa blanca, tots dos amb les mans encadenades, i els ulls alçats cap a Vós implorant la vostra protecció. Mare de Déu de la Mercè, feu que els catalans no hàgim de sentir-nos mai més captius, que la nostra aspiració tan justa i tan humana de néixer i de morir catalans ens sigui reconeguda per sempre de sempre. Depèn de vós i depèn de nosaltres, sobretot d'aquesta joventut treballadora i estudiosa, d'aquestes dones catalanes, valentes i fortes, conscients que una de les coses més nobles del món és pujar una família, que han ensenyat i ensenyen als seus fills a estimar Catalunya, sense estridències, quietament, eficaçment. Catalunya, "terra dels pins iguals, de l'alzinar planyent vessant amunt fins a carena viva", serà el que voldrem que sigui; la força de tantes voluntats pot abatre muralles. El temps no compta. Hem après a esperar. Hem de pensar que tots, cadascú en el seu lloc, som necessaris, som importants. Tan important és una pintura d’Antoni Tàpies o de Joan Miró o una escultura de Subirachs, com un càntir de Breda ben fet o un gerro de la Bisbal ben acabat; tan important és un artista com un obrer, un pescador com un pagès. Gent de totes les nostres comarques, unida per formar un sol poble, Catalunya ens necessita.

Voldria, en aquest dia tan assenyalat, comunicar la meva fe en la meva terra, en la força indestructible de la paciència dels catalans. En la Catalunya que "treballa, pensa, lluita i que creu, espera i ora". Tenim a la porta la Festa Major de la ciutat organitzada pel nostre batlle, pel nostre Ajuntament. Tot nostre. Voldria demanar als barcelonins que celebrin la Festa Major d'aquest any amb esperança, amb el cor content, amb banderes als balcons, amb cobles per places i carrers, amb tot l'esclat de les nostres flors a les Rambles, amb el mar ben blau en aquest mes de setembre dolç de raïms.

A totes les nostres autoritats, ara, per fi, ben legítimes, a totes les barcelonines i barcelonins, a totes les catalanes i catalans, vagi la meva salutació més cordial; i a la Santíssima Verge, en la seva advocació de la Mercè, la meva pregària per mi, per tots nosaltres, per la nostra ciutat i per la nostra pàtria.

Barcelonines, barcelonins, queden obertes les Festes de la Mercè de l'any 1980.

More information: Fundació Mercè Rodoreda

 La vida, perquè sigui vida, s'ha de viure a poc a poc...

Life, for it to be life, must be lived little by little...

Mercè Rodoreda

ILDEFONS CERDÀ SUNYER, FOUNDER OF MODERN TOWN

After three amazing days in Lyon, The Grandma has returned to Barcelona. One of the good experiences when you arrive in Barcelona by plane is to contemplate the Eixample, one of the symbols of the city, which was designed by Ildefons Cerdà, the Catalan engineer, who died on a day like today in 1876.

Ildefons Cerdà Sunyer (23 December 1815-21 August 1876) was a Catalan urban planner and civil engineer who designed the 19th-century "extension" of Barcelona called the Eixample. Because of his extensive theoretical and practical work, he is considered the founder of modern town planning as a discipline, having coined the word urbanization.

Cerdà was born in Centelles, Catalonia, in 1815. He trained as a civil engineer at the Escuela de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, in Madrid. He joined the Corps of Engineers and lived in various cities before settling in Barcelona in 1848 and marrying Clotilde Bosch. After the death of his brothers, Cerdà inherited the family fortune, and left the civil service. He became interested in politics and the study of urban planning.

When the government of the time finally gave in to public pressure and allowed Barcelona's city walls to be torn down, he realized the need to plan the city's expansion so that the new extension would become an efficient and livable place, unlike the congested, epidemic-prone old town within the walls. When he failed to find suitable reference works, he undertook the task of writing one from scratch while designing what he called the Eixample, borrowing a few technological ideas from his contemporaries to create a unique, thoroughly modern integrated concept that was carefully considered rather than whimsically designed.

He continued to create projects and improve existing designs throughout his lifetime, as well as to develop his theories taking on larger planning scopes (at the regional planning level), until the very end. In the process, he lost all his family's inheritance and he died in 1876 a heavily indebted near-pauper, never having been paid for his chief masterpiece, the design of Barcelona's Eixample.

Cerdà was a multi-faceted man who, in pursuit of his vision, gave up a steady job in the civil engineering service, stood for election and became a member of the Cortes; drafted useful ground-breaking legislation, drew up a detailed topographical survey map of Barcelona's surroundings, and wrote a theoretical treatise to support each of his major planning projects.

Cerdà focused on key needs: chiefly, the need for sunlight, natural lighting and ventilation in homes (he was heavily influenced by the sanitarian movement), the need for greenery in people's surroundings, the need for effective waste disposal including good sewerage, and the need for seamless movement of people, goods, energy, and information.

His designs belie a network-oriented approach far ahead of his time. His street layout and grid plan were optimized to accommodate pedestrians, carriages, horse-drawn trams, urban railway lines (as yet unheard-of), gas supply and large-capacity sewers to prevent frequent floods, without neglecting public and private gardens and other key amenities. The latest technical innovations were incorporated in his designs if they could further the cause of better integration, but he also came up with remarkable new concepts of his own, including a logical system of land readjustment that was essential to the success of his project, and produced a thorough statistical analysis of working-class conditions at the time, which he undertook in order to demonstrate the ills of congestion.

Cerdà's plan for Barcelona underwent two major revisions; the second version, is the one still recognizable in the layout of today's Eixample, though the low height of buildings and the gardens within every city block were soon dispensed with by politicians inclined toward property speculation.

In addition, only one of the two planned diagonal streets was realized. Culturally, the Eixample was (and still is) inhabited by the well-to-do, instead of integrating social classes. Many of the architects of his time opposed Cerdà's ideas, even accusing him of promoting socialism; in the end, however, they designed the Modernista façades that brought fame to the district.

Political developments in Spain and Catalonia eventually led to the enshrinement of a revisionist version of how Cerdà secured official approval of his plan. 

Cerdà actually drew up his plan under the commission of the then competent authority with the support of the city council.

A political reversal led to a change in local government, and the new council sought to preempt the previous central government's decision by holding a project competition in 1859, which Cerdà lost; nevertheless, Cerdà's design prevailed, much to the chagrin of the major property owners.

More information: The Guardian

 The industrial revolution has tended 
to produce everywhere great urban masses 
that seem to be increasingly careless of ethical standards.

Irving Babbitt

BARCELONA-CAMBRILS, 2017 #17AVOLEMLAVERITAT

S'enduien veus d'infants
el sol que jo mirava.
Tota la llum d'estiu
se'm feia enyor de somni.

El rellotge, al blanc mur,
diu com se'n va la tarda.
S'encalma un vent suau
pels camins del capvespre.

Potser demà vindran
encara lentes hores
de claror per als ulls
d'aquest esguard tan àvid.

Però ara és la nit.
I he quedat solitari
a la casa dels morts
que només jo recordo.

Cançó de Capvespre, Salvador Espriu 

ESTADI OLÍMPIC LLUÍS COMPANYS, ENJOYING MONTJUÏC

Today, The Grandma has been enjoying football. In the afternoon, she has stayed at Johan Cruyff Stadium in Sant Joan Despí, and in the evening, at Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc, Barcelona. It has been a fantastic day.

Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium formerly known as the Estadi de Montjuïc and Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc and also known in English as the Barcelona Olympic Stadium, is a stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia.

Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition in the city and Barcelona's failed bid for the 1936 Summer Olympics, which were awarded to Berlin, it was renovated in 1989 to be the main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1992 Summer Paralympics. 

It is used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Barcelona since the 2023-24 season, due to the renovation of their regular ground, the Camp Nou. 

The stadium is named after Lluís Companys, a president of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) executed by Francoist Spain.

With its current capacity of 55,926 seats (67,007 during the 1992 Olympics), it is the second largest stadium in Catalonia.

The stadium is located in kir the Anella Olímpica, on Montjuïc, a hill to the southwest of the city that overlooks the harbour.

Designed by architect Pere Domènech i Roura for the 1929 Expo, the stadium was officially opened on 20 May 1929. The opening ceremonies included Spain's first official rugby international game against Italy, and a friendly football match between the Catalan national team and Bolton Wanderers, which the Catalan team won by a shocking score of 4–0 with goals from Josep Samitier, Martí Ventolrà and Manuel Parera.

It was meant to host the People's Olympiad in 1936, a protest event against the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, but the event had to be canceled due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

In the fifties, the stadium was the centerpiece of the 1955 Mediterranean Games, and in 1957 it hosted the only national football cup final between Barcelona and Espanyol, the two local clubs.

In the seventies, the stadium was disused and the stands deteriorated. When the Spanish Grand Prix and other races were held at the Montjuïc racing circuit, the stadium was used as a paddock for the teams. Due to safety concerns, the 1975 F1 race was nearly boycotted by drivers.

During Barcelona's bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics, the stadium was totally renovated with the involvement of Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti. The stadium was gutted, preserving parts of the original facades, and new grandstands were built. In 1989, the venue was re-inaugurated for the World Cup in Athletics, and three years later it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies and all the athletics competitions of the Olympic Games and also the same functions during the Paralympics.

The stadium served as the home of Espanyol from 1997 until 2009. It also served as the home of the Barcelona Dragons American football team from 1991 until 2002. Because the size of the playing surface was slightly shorter than the regulation American football length, the stadium only had seven-yard end zones, three yards shorter than regulation NFL size in 1991 and 1992. They were later lengthened to the standard ten yards. The stadium also played host to the National Football League's American Bowl in 1993 and in 1994. The San Francisco 49ers played the Pittsburgh Steelers on 1 August 1993. The second game was played on 31 July 1994 between the Los Angeles Raiders and the Denver Broncos.

In 2001, the stadium was renamed after the former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya Lluís Companys, who was executed at the nearby Montjuïc Castle in 1940 by the Franco regime. 

In 2010, the stadium hosted the 20th European Athletics Championships.

Since the 2023-24 season, the stadium has served as the home ground for Barcelona during the redevelopment of the Camp Nou. The club plans to continue playing at the Estadi Olímpic until the redevelopment of the Camp Nou is completed by the 2025-26 season.

More information: Estadi Olímpic

The Olympic Games showed us that with self-discipline
and dedication we can be champions.

Anurag Thakur

THE BREAKING OF THE ROUND TABLE, THE END IS NEAR

Today, The Grandma is still ill. She has a terrible cold, and she has continued reading about King Arthur and The Round Table.

The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. 

The symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the Knights of the Round Table.

Though the Round Table itself is not mentioned, the concept of Arthur havinga marvelous court made up of many prominent warriors is much older. 

Geoffrey of Monmouth says that after establishing peace throughout Britain, Arthur increased his personal entourage by inviting very distinguished men from far-distant kingdoms to join it. The code of chivalry so important in later romance figures in as well, as Geoffrey says Arthur established such a code of courtliness in his household that he inspired peoples living far away to imitate him.

Long before Geoffrey, Arthur's court was well known to Welsh storytellers; in the romance Culhwch and Olwen, written around 1100, the protagonist Culhwch invokes the names of 225 individuals affiliated with Arthur

More information: King Arthur's Knights

In fact, the fame of Arthur's entourage became so prominent in Welsh tradition that in the later additions to the Welsh Triads, the formula tying named individuals to Arthur's Court in the triad titles began to supersede the older Island of Britain formula.

Though the code of chivalry crucial to later continental romances dealing with the Round Table is mostly absent from the earlier Welsh material, some passages of Culhwch and Olwen seem to prefigure it, for instance when Arthur explains the ethos of his court, saying [w]e are nobles as long as we are sought out: the greater the bounty we may give, the greater our nobility, fame and honour.

Though no Round Table appears in the early Welsh texts, Arthur is associated with various items of household furniture.

The earliest of these is Saint Carannog's mystical floating altar in that saint's 12th century Vita; in the story Arthur has found the altar and attempts unsuccessfully to use it for a table, and returns it to Carannog in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a meddlesome dragon. Arthur's household furniture figures into local topographical folklore throughout Britain as early as the early 12th century, with various landmarks being named Arthur's Seat, Arthur's Oven, and Arthur's Bed-chamber.

A henge at Eamont Bridge near Penrith, Cumbria is known as King Arthur's Round Table. The still-visible Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon has been associated with the Round Table and has been suggested as a possible source for the legend.

More information: Britannica

Following archaeological discoveries at the Roman ruins in Chester, some writers suggested that the Chester Roman Amphitheatre was the true prototype of the Round Table, but the English Heritage Commission, acting as consultants to a History Channel documentary in which the claim was made, declared that there was no archaeological basis to the story.

The Round Table first appeared in Wace's Roman de Brut, a Norman language adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae finished in 1155. Wace says Arthur created the Round Table to prevent quarrels among his barons, none of whom would accept a lower place than the others. Layamon added to the story when he adapted Wace's work into the Middle English Brut in the early 13th century, saying that the quarrel between Arthur's vassals led to violence at a Yuletide feast. 

In response a Cornish carpenter built an enormous but easily transportable Round Table to prevent further dispute. Wace claims he was not the source of the Round Table; both he and Layamon credited it instead to the Bretons.

Some scholars have doubted this claim, while others believe it may be true. There is some similarity between the chroniclers' description of the Round Table and a custom recorded in Celtic stories, in which warriors sit in a circle around the king or lead warrior, in some cases feuding over the order of precedence as in Layamon. There is a possibility that Wace, contrary to his own claims, derived Arthur's round table not from any Breton source, but rather from medieval biographies of Charlemagne, notably Einhard's Vita Caroli and Notker the Stammerer's De Carolo Magno, in which the king is said to have possessed a round table decorated with a map of Rome.

More information: Ancient Fortresses

The Round Table takes on new dimensions in the romances of the late 12th and early 13th century, where it becomes a symbol of the famed order of chivalry which flourishes under Arthur. In Robert de Boron's Merlin, written around the 1190s, the wizard Merlin creates the Round Table in imitation of the table of the Last Supper and of Joseph of Arimathea's Holy Grail table.

This table, here made for Arthur's father Uther Pendragon rather than Arthur himself, has twelve seats and one empty place to mark the betrayal of Judas. This seat must remain empty until the coming of the knight who will achieve the Grail.

The Didot Perceval, a prose continuation of Robert's work, takes up the story, and the knight Percival sits in the seat and initiates the Grail quest. The prose cycles of the 13th century, the Lancelot-Grail cycle and the Post-Vulgate Cycle, further adapt the chivalric attributes of the Round Table. Here it is the perfect knight Galahad, rather than Percival, who assumes the empty seat, now called the Siege Perilous.  

Galahad's arrival marks the start of the Grail quest as well as the end of the Arthurian era. In these works the Round Table is kept by King Leodegrance of Cameliard after Uther's death; Arthur inherits it when he marries Leodegrance's daughter Guinevere. Other versions treat the Round Table differently, for instance Arthurian works from Italy often distinguish between the Old Table of Uther's time and Arthur's New Table.

The artifact known as the Winchester Round Table, a large tabletop hanging in Winchester Castle bearing the names of various knights of Arthur's court, was probably created for a Round Table tournament. The current paintwork is late; it was done by order of Henry VIII of England for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's 1522 state visit, and depicts Henry himself sitting in Arthur's seat above a Tudor rose. 

The table itself is considerably older; dendrochronology calculates the date of construction to 1250–1280, during the reign of Edward I, using timber from store felled over a period of years. Edward was an Arthurian enthusiast who attended at least five Round Tables and hosted one himself in 1299, which may have been the occasion for the creation of the Winchester Round Table. Martin Biddle, from an examination of Edward's financial accounts, links it instead with a tournament Edward held near Winchester on April 20, 1290, to mark the betrothal of one of his daughters.

More information: Study

 

 

Knights! The gift of freedom is yours by right. 

But the home we seek resides not in some distant land. 

It's in us! And in our actions on this day! 

If this be our destiny, then so be it. 

But let history remember that as free men, 

we chose to make it so. 

King Arthur

OCTOBER, 1 2017. 'INDESINENTER' BY SALVADOR ESPRIU

  Nosaltres sabíem
d'un únic senyor
i vèiem com
esdevenia
gos.

Envilit pel ventre,
per l'afalac al ventre,
per la por,
s'ajup sota el fuet
amb foll oblit
de la raó
que té.

Arnat, menjat
de plagues,
aquest trist
número de baratilli,
saldo al circ
de la mort,
sense parar llepava
l'aspra mà
que l'ha fermat
des de tant temps
al fang.

Li hauria estat
senzill de fer
del seu silenci mur
impenetrable, altíssim:
va triar
la gran vergonya mansa
dels lladrucs.

Mai no hem pogut,
però, desesperar
del vell vençut
i elevem en la nit
un cant a crits,
car les paraules vessen
de sentit.

L'aigua, la terra,
l'aire, el foc
són seus,
si s'arrisca d’un cop
a ser qui és.

Caldrà que digui
de seguida prou,
que vulgui ara
caminar de nou,
alçat, sense repòs,
per sempre més
home salvat en poble,
contra el vent.

Salvat en poble,
ja l'amo de tot,
no gos mesell,
sinó l’únic senyor.

 

 

 Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out,

because this is your country. This is your democracy.

Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.

Thurgood Marshall

MAYTE COMES BACK TO DISCOVER 'LES FESTES DE GRÀCIA'

Today, The Grandma has received news from Mayte, who has visited Gràcia, one of the most popular neighbourhoods of Barcelona, and has shared her memories and photos with The Grandma.

Gràcia is a district of the city of Barcelona, Catalonia. 

It comprises the neighbourhoods of Vila de Gràcia, Vallcarca i els Penitents, El Coll, La Salut and Camp d'en Grassot i Gràcia Nova.

Gràcia is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the south, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi to the west and Horta-Guinardó to the east. A vibrant and diverse enclave of Catalan life, Gràcia was an independent municipality for centuries before being formally annexed by Barcelona in 1897 as a part of the city's expansion.

Gràcia was established in 1626, by a Novitiate of Carmelites, who established a convent there, called Nostra Senyora de Gràcia.

Following the War of the Spanish Succession, Gràcia remained an independent municipality in the direction of the Serra de Collserola mountains (north/northwest) from central Barcelona.

Passeig de Gràcia, the street which is today home to the most high-end international fashion brands and posh hotels , was back then a country road linking the town to the larger city, through the plain of Barcelona.

During the mid-1800s, Barcelona was rapidly industrialising and significantly expanding its borders from those of the Roman walls and old city. The advent of new industry was drawing Catalans by the thousands to abandon their farms and move to the city, spurring a shift from an agriculturally based, rural economy to an urban economy focused on manufacturing and trade.

In 1897, Barcelona formally annexed the town of Gràcia, and it has existed since as a neighborhood of the Catalan capital. Although no longer independent, Gràcia has long maintained a distinct identity as a unique district of the diverse, larger metropolis to which it belongs.

More information: Meet Barcelona

Gràcia is both the smallest district by area, at 4.2 km2, and the second most densely populated neighbourhood in Barcelona. One of the hippest, most cosmopolitan areas in the city, Gràcia's intimate, close-packed streets and predominately low-rise, Mediterranean architecture give it a distinct feel. Its old, one-way streets are organized around a series of plazas, including Plaça de Vila de Gràcia, Plaça del Sol and Plaça de la Virreina. Old-world charm abounds.

To the northern end of Gràcia on El Carmel mountain lies Park Güell, arguably the most famous work of Catalonia's most famous architect, Antoni Gaudí.

On Carrer de les Carolines, between Plaça Lesseps and Fontana, lies Casa Vicens, Gaudí's first major work of architecture and a staple in his canon of modernist design. An occupied house for decades, Casa Vicens only recently became a tourist attraction on November 15, 2017. The building was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.

Casa Fuster, a fabled, grand modernist-style hotel that lies at the edge of Gràcia's southern end on the Plaça de Nicolás Salmerón. Designed by Catalan master architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner between 1908 and 1910, the ornate house was converted to a hotel in 2004.

In the Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia, the bell tower marks the old administrative centre of the former independent municipality. The tower, a 33-meter-high octagonal figure, was built by Rovira i Trias between 1862 and 1864. A legend describes the Campana de Gràcia and its role in local conflicts from 1870.

Mercè Rodoreda's most important novel, La Plaça del Diamant, is set mainly in Gràcia at the time of the Second Spanish Republic and the Spanish Civil War.

The Gràcia population is a mix of young professionals and artists and a growing elderly population, with a significant portion of older Catalans who came of age as Franco came to power. Catalan flags adorn many a Gràcia window or terrace, symbols of the neighbourhood's fiercely pro-independence politics.

The most notable event in Gràcia is the Festes de Gràcia, which goes on for eight days every August. 

The largest neighbourhood festival in Barcelona, the Festa Major de Gràcia began in 1817 as a celebration of the neighbourhood itself, at the time still an independent town.

Gràcia's residents compete for the crown of best street or square, selecting distinct themes and extensively decorating in Spanish carnival style, and organised by a number of local associations. The selected themes range from scenes of nature, to wild animals and creatures, to characters from popular culture.

More information: Barcelona Tourist Guide

 Popular culture is one of the sites
where this struggle for and against a culture
of the powerful is engaged:
it is also the stake to be won or lost in that struggle.
It is the arena of consent and resistance.

Stuart Hall

BARCELONA-CAMBRILS, 2017 #17AVOLEMLAVERITAT

Desperta, és un nou dia,
la llum
del sol llevant, vell guia
pels quiets camins del fum.
No deixis res
per caminar i mirar fins al ponent.
Car tot, en un moment,
et serà pres.

Cançó d'albada, Salvador Espriu

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & BCN, I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have been enjoying, again, the greatest of all artists, Bruce Springsteen, The Boss, who has offered with The E Street Band another unforgettable concert in the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc-Lluís Companys in Barcelona.

 

I'll See You in My Dreams is a 2020 song by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The song was released as a single in March 2021. The song was dedicated to Michael Gudinski with the music video released on March 3, the day after Gudinski died. The song is the closing track on the 2020 album Letter to You, and along with the opening track One Minute You're Here, it is one of the two songs about mortality and death that bookend the album.

The song was first performed in a solo-acoustic arrangement on November 18, 2020, at Springsteen's Stone Hill Farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey for a virtual broadcast of the annual Stand Up for Heroes event, along with another song from the same album, House of a Thousand Guitars and the 2007 song Long Walk Home.

Later, it was one of the two songs from the album, the other one being Ghosts, performed by Springsteen and The E Street Band on the December 12, 2020 episode of Saturday Night Live.

On June 26, 2021, the song was added to the Springsteen on Broadway setlist, replacing Born to Run as the closing track, once again performed by Springsteen acoustically on guitar.

On September 11, 2021, Springsteen performed the acoustic version of I'll See You in My Dreams at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks, during the 9/11 20th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony.

As of 2023 and 2024, on the ongoing 2023 and 2024 Tours, Springsteen has closed all but one show with the acoustic version of I'll See You in My Dreams.

Music Musings & Such gave the song 9.7/10 points, describing Springsteen's voice in the song as contemplative and spirited and saying there is clearly a lot of meaning and personal relevance behind the words; the song has a definite energy and verve that portrays a sense of reconciliation and optimism.

Ultimate Classic Rock describes the album as ending as contemplatively as it begins, with the hopeful song declaring death is not the end, and like the opening One Minute You're Here, it serves as a melancholy bookend to Springsteen's most reflective work.

NJ.com ranks the song 7th on the album, describing it as a vibrant and telling finale to a record that could easily function as a fond farewell for the full-band outfit if they choose to never record another LP as ambitious as this one.

Rolling Stone, comparing the song to opener One Minute You're Here, says it is more of an upbeat and folky number that finds Springsteen echoing Dylan, declaring death is not the end.

More information: Bruce Springsteen

The road is long and seeming without end
The days go on, I remember you my friend
And though you're gone and my heart's been emptied it seems
I'll see you in my dreams
I got your guitar here by the bed
All your favorite records and all the books that you read
And though my soul feels like it's been split at the seams
I'll see you in my dreams
I'll see you in my dreams
When all our summers have come to an end
I'll see you in my dreams
We'll meet and live and laugh again
I'll see you in my dreams
Yeah, up around the river bend
For death is not the end
And I'll see you in my dreams
I'll see you in my dreams
When all our summers have come to an end
I'll see you in my dreams
We'll meet and live and laugh again
I'll see you in my dreams
Yeah, up around the river bend
For death is not the end
And I'll see you in my dreams
(See) you in my
See you in my dreams
Go
And I'll see you in my dreams

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & BCN, THE LAST MAN STANDING

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have been enjoying the greatest of all artists, Bruce Springsteen, The Boss, who has offered with the E Street Band an unforgettable concert in the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc-Lluís Companys in Barcelona.

 

Bruce Springsteen, born September 23, 1949 is an American musician, singer, songwriter and humanitarian. He is best known for his work with his E Street Band. 

Nicknamed The Boss, Springsteen is widely known for his brand of poetic lyrics, American working class and sometimes political sentiments centred on his native New Jersey, his distinctive voice and his lengthy and energetic stage performances, with concerts from the 1970s to the present decade running over four hours in length.

Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born to Run (1975) and Born in the USA (1984), showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life. 

He has sold more than 64 million albums in the United States and more than 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award as well as being inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

Bruce Springsteen draws on many musical influences from the reservoir of traditional American popular music, folk, blues and country. From the beginning, rock and roll has been a dominant influence and Springsteen's musical and lyrical evocations, as well as public tributes, of artists such as Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Gary Bonds, and many others helped to rekindle interest in their music. 

Springsteen's other preferred musical style is American folk, evident on his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park and more strongly on Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad. 

Springsteen songs such as This Hard Land demonstrate the lyrical and musical influence of Woody Guthrie.

Often described as cinematic in their scope, Springsteen's lyrics frequently explore highly personal themes such as individual commitment, dissatisfaction and dismay with life in a context of everyday situations. It has been recognized that there was a shift in his lyrical approach starting with the album Darkness on the Edge of Town, in which he focused on the emotional struggles of working class life.

More information: Bruce Springsteen

Rock of ages lift me somehow
Somewhere high and hard and loud
Somewhere deep into the heart of the crowd
I'm the last man standing now.

Bruce Springsteen

SAINT GEORGE, THE TRADITION BECOMES POPULAR

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have continued celebrating Saint George, and preparing their A2 Cambridge Exam working some aspects like reading, writing and listening.

Download A2 Cambridge Model

 

Saint George (AD 275–281 to 23 April 303), according to legend, was a Roman soldier of Greek origin and officer in the Guard of Roman emperor Diocletian, who was ordered his death for failing to recant his Christian faith. As a Christian martyr, he later became one of the most venerated saints in Christianity and in particular the Crusades.

In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalised in the myth of Saint George and the Dragon. His memorial, Saint George's Day, is traditionally celebrated on April 23.

 

Numerous countries, cities, professions and organisations claim Saint George as their patron: England, Catalonia, Georgia, Malta, Armenia, Belgium, Egypt, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Montenegro, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Syria and the United States.

George's parents were Christians of Greek background, his father Gerontius was a Roman army official from Cappadocia, and his mother Polychronia was a Christian and a Greek native from Lydda in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. Accounts differ regarding whether George was born in Cappadocia or Syria Palaestina, but agree that he was raised at least partly in Lydda.

 

More information: Independent

Some evidence links the legend back to very old Egyptian and Phoenician sources in a late antique statue of Horus fighting a dragon. This ties the legendary George, though not necessarily the historical George, to various ancient sources using mythological and linguistic arguments. In Egyptian mythology, the god Setekh murdered his brother Osiris. Horus, the son of Osiris, avenged his father's death by killing Setekh. This iconography of the horseman with spear overcoming evil was widespread throughout the Christian period.

As a highly celebrated saint in both the Western and Eastern Christian churches, Saint George is connected with a large number of patronages throughout the world, and his iconography can be found on the flags and coats of arms of a number of cities and countries.

Traces of the cult of St George predate the Norman Conquest, in 9th-century liturgy used at Durham Cathedral, in a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon martyrology, and in dedications to Saint George at Fordington, Dorset, at Thetford, Southwark and Doncaster. He received further impetus when the Crusaders returned from the Holy Land in the 12th century.

 

More information: Parliament UK

At the Battle of Antioch in 1098, St George, St Demetrius and St Maurice were said to have been seen riding alongside the crusaders, and depictions of this event can be seen in a number of churches. King Edward III (reigned 1327–77) was known for promoting the codes of knighthood and in 1348 founded the Order of the Garter. 

During his reign, George came to be recognised as the patron saint of the English monarchy; before this, Saint Edmund had been considered the patron saint of England, although his veneration had waned since the time of the Norman conquest, and his cult was partly eclipsed by that of Edward the Confessor. Edward dedicated the chapel at Windsor Castle to the soldier saint who represented the knightly values of chivalry which he so much admired, and the Garter ceremony takes place there every year.

In the 16th century, Edmund Spenser included St. George, Redcross Knight, as a central figure in his epic poem The Faerie Queene. William Shakespeare firmly placed St George within the national conscience in his play Henry V, in which the English troops are rallied with the cry God for Harry, England and St George, and in Richard III, and King Lear.

 

More information: Coptic Cairo

A late 17th-century ballad also claims St. George as an English patron. The ballad compares other mythic and historical heroes with the merit of St. George and concludes that all are less important than St. George.

Above the Palace of Westminster, there are six shields above each of the four clock faces of Big Ben, twenty-four in total, all depicting the arms of St George, representing the Flag of England, London as the capital city of England, and St. George as the patron saint of England. This symbolism is also repeated in the central lobby of the Houses of Parliament, in an enormous mosaic created by Sir Edward John Poynter in 1869, depicting St George and the Dragon with these arms, entitled St George for England.

Saint George, Sant Jordi in Catalan, is the patron saint of Catalonia. His cross appears in many buildings and local flags, including the one of the Catalan capital, Barcelona. The Catalan tradition usually locates the events of his legend in the town of Montblanc, near Tarragona.

By the 15th century Catalan men used to celebrate Saint George's Day by giving roses to women. Nowadays Saint George is not a public holiday anymore but is a very popular celebration. Women receive roses and books and, since the 20th century, men receive books and roses and the celebration is also used to celebrate Catalan national identity, culture and literature and romantic love. 

One of the highest civil distinction awarded in Catalonia is the Saint George's Cross (Creu de Sant Jordi).

More information: The Culture Trip

 

  

A people without the knowledge of their past history, 

origin and culture is like a tree without roots. 

Marcus Garvey