The Guild of Booksellers has issued a statement with a view to the celebration of Sant Jordi in the streets of Catalonia. I don’t recognize the voice of any of the bookstores I frequent, but, of course, there are many more. They state: “Regardless of the day and time set for the (FC Barcelona) game, the Day will be celebrated as normal”. These last two words are capitalized and bold. And why shouldn’t it be celebrated with “total normality”? Sant Jordi is every year on April 23, whether it’s a public holiday or a weekday, whether it’s sunny or rainy (God forbid it happens again), and the day is not changed for fear that it coincides with some other activity.
So the notice that says that book stands will be set up all over Catalonia despite the fact that Barça is playing on the same day at 4:15 p.m. seems, if not hair-raising, but the expression of an inferiority complex like a country house.
The union adds that “it wants to remember that enjoying sport and culture is perfectly compatible”. Out of the reminder because it wouldn’t have occurred to us alone. And this year, which falls on a Sunday, perhaps we should ask them: if the weather is good, would it be compatible to enjoy culture and go to the beach for a while, to hunt asparagus or blow out the candles on your aunt’s birthday cake?
Sant Jordi is my favorite day of the year. Depending on the moment, I have experienced it with different hats. As a reader, strolling along La Rambla, Passeig de Grà cia and Rambla Catalunya, with an escape to Off Sant Jordi de la Calders at the Antic Teatre; as a saleswoman, dispatching at the Xoroi bookshop stand, in Canaletes, and in Tòmiris, in the Sagrada FamÃlia neighborhood; and lately as an author, full of joy, the joy of accompanying the child and the pen at the ready. With low expectations, of course, because there are many authors to choose from and for the Diada they let loose the herd of YouTubers and other species. Wherever I am I have always seen floods of people buying roses and books, even those who don’t read, that a day is a day!
There are enough hours in the day to watch a football game and rummage through a few stalls of books. And we will always have the joke phrase: “Every day is Sant Jordi”.
