The Legend
🐉 There was once a legend in medieval Catalonia. A dragon terrorized a village, and its people drew lots each day to offer one of their own as tribute. One day, the princess was chosen. As she walked toward the dragon, a knight on a white horse—Sant Jordi—appeared and pierced the beast with his sword. From the fallen dragon's blood sprang a bush of red roses, and the knight plucked the reddest bloom and offered it to the princess. 🐉
The story lingered in Catalan hearts for centuries. Sant Jordi became the patron saint of Catalonia, and on his feast day, lovers began exchanging roses—a tradition rooted in the 15th century. Until then, this was only 🌹 the Day of the Rose. There were no books.
The Day of the Book
Books entered the picture much later. In 1922, Vicente Clavel, editor at the Cervantes publishing house in Barcelona, made a proposal: create a "Day of the Book" to honor the great Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes—and to boost book sales. The origin was commercial rather than romantic. The first Day of the Book was held on October 7, 1926, then believed to be Cervantes' birthday.
The Shared Death Day of Shakespeare and Cervantes
But October's Day of the Book fell quiet. In 1931, booksellers asked to move the date—to April 23, the day Cervantes and Shakespeare died. The historic coincidence of the two literary giants passing on the same date in 1616 lent the day its symbolic weight. In truth, the calendars differed and the actual deaths were about ten days apart, but the coincidence of the date alone was dramatic enough.
April 23: The Festival of Roses and Books
The new date produced an unexpected result. April 23 had already been the day of Sant Jordi's rose festival for centuries. The booksellers' practical decision collided with an ancient legend. The two festivals merged without resistance. A new custom was born: men gave roses to women, and women gave books to men. The dragon's blood and Cervantes' death converged into a single day.
Even under Franco's dictatorship, when books in Catalan were banned, the tradition endured. Books and roses became more than gifts—they became symbols of a suppressed language and culture. In 1995, inspired by this Catalan celebration, UNESCO designated April 23 as World Book and Copyright Day. A regional custom expanded into a global observance.
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