Words and books may take centre stage on St George's Day, but not on their own. Coming in all sorts of colours, shapes and sizes, roses flood the streets of Barcelona, offering everyone an opportunity to find one they can make their own. Though sales are expected to drop this year because of the festival's clash with Easter, florists will be trying to reverse these negative predictions with creative ideas and appeals to people's sense of one of the oldest traditions in the country.
It's a relationship that gets stronger every year. As they parade through the city's streets, the one reveals all its charm in words while the other, more discreet and coquettish, speaks a secret language only they can understand.
The latter is the rose. Together with books, roses are the eternal symbol of St George's Day, which dresses Barcelona up in every colour on 23 April.
Yellow stands for friendship, white for innocence, orange for desire, burgundy for inner beauty and red for beauty. There is a rose for everyone and shops like Au Nom de la Rose prove it.
This little establishment on Carrer de València offers roses of every variety, provenance, size and colour and always fresh and natural. "You will find every imaginable rose here, depending on the day," asserts Rosa, the shop's manager.
Article: http://w3.bcn.cat/V01/Serveis/Noticies/V01NoticiesLlistatNoticiesCtl/0,2138,257422265_257449819_3_1507876035,00.html?accio=detall&home=
On Saturday evening, I arrived back to Barcelona from Italy. As I'm walking down the street, I notice these small vendors that I've never seen before. On one side of the street, people are selling roses, and on the other side people are selling books. For a moment, I was confused. I wasn't sure what was going on, until I pondered the conception. Then, I remembered learning about St. George's Day in one of my classes. It's very similar to Valentine's Day in the United States. However, chocolate and candy isn't involved. The woman gets her significant other a book, and the man gets his significant other a rose. Roses don't always have to be given to a significant other. A yellow rose can be given to a friend to symbolize your friendship. I thought it was so interesting to experience this event. I saw a little boy give his mother a rose, and she was so excited and happy. Small things such as a rose really to symbolize how the small things in life matter most, and it was such a great experience to see an a small event happen right before my eyes.
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