Monalia's World

April 23, 2009

Once again it is the holiday of San Jordi. Of all the Catalàn celebrations, this one is my favorite. It is a playful, sweet, goofy and romantic day. The combination of spring weather and Catalan joie de vivre has everyone going giddy from dawn to dusk. Patron Saint of Catalonia, international knight-errant San Jordi (Saint George) supposedly slew a dragon about to devour a beautiful princess south of Barcelona. From the dragon’s blood sprouted a rosebush, from which the hero plucked the prettiest for the princess.

This is the part I like; In 1923, this Catalan Valentine’s Day merged with International Book Day to mark the anniversary of the April 23, 1616 deaths of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.

Over four million roses and half a million books are sold in Catalonia on Sant Jordi’s Day, men giving their inamoratas roses and the ladies giving books in return. Only over the years it has reversed, where often the men give women a book and women give a rose to their man.

Many authors are out, signing their books. I love that there is a celebration for writers. If I had it together I could set up a make-shift stall and sell my book Horizontal Rain. Unfortunately I wouldn’t have many buyers here in Barcelona though, as my book is in English. However I like the idea of it.

All this amounts to florists and book authors making big money on this one day every year. I head out with Quixote in my bike basket to take it all in:

Quixote and I shopping for the perfect rose to buy for Mark

Gaudí dedicated an entire house, Casa Batlló, to the Sant Jordi theme with the cross of Saint George implanted in the scaly roof and the bones of the dragon’s victims framing the windows of the main facade.

Casa Batlló – cross of San Jordi in scaly roof, bones framing windows of Casa Batlló main facade.

Quixote and I ride around the streets of Gracia. Plaça Rius y Taulet is teeming with kids and adults alike buying books at bargain prices.

Book stalls at Plaça Rius y Taulet filled with kids. In the last shot the kids appear to be more interested in petting Quixote in my basket than in any books.

The roses Quixote and I selected for Mark, the book Mark bought for me.

San Jordi 2007

Our first year living here in Barcelona we were asked to participate in an art event celebrating San Jordi. We were living in Raval at the time, waiting for our deal to go through when we bought our piso that we now live in. Along with 49 other artists, Mark and I were given a blank book to fill for an exhibit in the sculpture garden of a cool store in Gracia. Our book had photos by Mark and descriptive writing by me documenting our initial efforts to integrate into Catalan society.

The gallery was in Gracia where we now live. I didn’t keep a blog in those days, but I did take lots of photos of the exhibit. We felt privileged to be a part of it. Our good friend Cristina got us involved in it.
Here are some thumbnails you can click on to enlarge if you want.

One of the reasons I love Festa San Jordi is because there are no firecrackers, no devils and marching bands, only romance and literature and balloons abound. Quixote is a great accomplice, for he is a Catalan dog.

My new routine is to wake up and take Quixote and Haka to the park, first thing, no coffee – nada. So far this has worked, Quixote is learning to pee and poo outside (for the most part). He likes socializing with the other dogs.

Here is a photo of him sitting obediently with his 5 best canine friends from the park:
Quixote is the tiniest dog.

There is a regular set of characters who hang out in the park with their dogs; there’s Montse who has five well behaved dogs, there’s the Basque guy with the beagles, there’s our friends Sara and Ricardo with their 2 (spoiled rotten) dogs Cip and Kira, and other regulars whose faces and dogs I recognize, but do not know their names.

It is Saturday. This morning Montsei says to me, “We’re celebrating Oriol’s birthday tonight (owner of a big, brawny, white bulldog) . About ten of us are meeting for dinner at the Palestine place on Calle Verdi (in our neighborhood).Would you like to join us?” I accept. One of Mark and my motto’s when we moved here was to “accept all invitations” if it is possible. We have succeeded in connecting with people as a result. Tonight is no exception.

I return home and tell Mark. At first he says,”What are we going to talk about? They’re all Catalan. Do we talk about our dogs? I say, “I’m sure they will speak Castiliano for us. Let’s go!”

So we do. It is really fun seeing everyone all dressed up, no dogs. The Angelina Jolie lady sits across from me. She is married to Miguel, who is Basque. Oriol is turning 33 years old. Drinks all around.

1)View of group, Montse first on left. 2) Oriol the birthday boy turns 33. 3) Oriol and another dog owner whose name I still don’t know, 4) Cecilia with Montse behind her.

Mark and I have a yummy lamb mustafa stew and engage in fun small talk. Surprisingly, the topic of dogs never arises. Instead we talk politics, films, tv, art… I am proud of Mark, who is seated next to two people and not directly across from me. He is conversing easily, and I can hardly remember back to when he spoke not one word of Spanish just 2 years ago. We are a motley (and typical in this country) multi-generational group, varying in ages from early 30’s to the grandmother next to me in her late 50’s.

Dinner ends around midnight, and they say, “Shall we all walk to the disco?” I am surprised and delighted to learn we have a discoteque in our neighborhood, literally 2 1/2 blocks from our front door! Mark and I have often in the past mused out loud how the only thing missing in our neighborhood is a discoteque, and voilà!

The music starts out groovy techno but progresses to a kind of salsa fusion pop which all the ladys know the words to. The crowd is a multi-generational mix of druggies, local neighbors, girlfriends and later on a gay contigent arrives – it is the perfect colorful mix by around 1:30 am. Mark and I leave our lively group at El Dorado Disco at around 2:30.

1) Some of our group at the disco. 2) On the dance floor

1) Montse with birthday boy 2) Oriol with yet another dog owner from our neighborhood
Meanwhile, here’s a couple photos of the morning after, of a few of last night’s revelers letting their dogs socialize while they recuperate from hang-overs on the sidelines. Evidently everyone stayed at the disco until around 5 am and then headed over to Miguel and Cecilia’s for another few hours.
What a great neighborhood Gracia is!

Dog park hang-overs plus Quixote and Cher the greyhound.

Today was a typical happy day, rode my bike to nearby Plaça Virreina with my puppy, Quixote where I was surprised to find a swing band and a plaça full of ballroom dancers!

Here are some photos: