April 23 and the roses of Sant Jordi

Sant Jordi on the Passeig Pere III in Manresa, with the Sant Jordi roses from the traveling version of MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory in the foreground .

The Diada de Sant Jordi is a very popular day in Catalonia. Its origins date back to the fifteenth century and is celebrated every April 23. According to tradition, it is the day dedicated to lovers since long before some department stores invented Valentine's Day. Starting in the 1930s, Book Day is added, in honor of Cervantes and Shakespeare, and the tradition is complete: each knight gives a rose to his princess to flatter her beauty; and each princess gives a book to her knight to flatter her wisdom. Like all traditions, it reflects cultural patterns that seen since the 21st century are a bit (or a lot!) sexist, and hence many couples give each other books, although the rose is still a gallantry reserved for each Sant Jordi to court his princess.

Every April 23, Catalonia adorns itself with book stalls and roses in all its corners. The streets, promenades and the most central squares are full of florists and bookstores, and often also of civil society that takes advantage of the day to get a little money, such as NGOs in search of funding for their projects or school children making money for their trips Prom. Thousands upon thousands of roses are given to girlfriends and wives, but also to friends, mothers, co-workers or clients. Since 2017, MeriTomasa has also had its own mobile store at Passeig Pere III in Manresa with a very special formula: the Sant Jordi Roses collection in sterling silver. I'll wait for you there!

Sterling silver with darkened recesses and wax cast: No two are alike!

Wax modeling of Sant Jordi roses

The Sant Jordi Roses collection consists of a set of sterling silver treasures (earrings, rings, bracelets, necklaces and needles) that share the rose as a motif and are made from the contrast of the polished finish and the darkened finish of silver, which intensifies the three-dimensional modeling of each piece and gives it more depth.

It is a collection designed and modeled in my workshop in Manresa, based on the manual wax modeling of each piece, so that you can also boast of wearing a zero kilometer jewel of handcrafted manufacturing.

Wax modeling involves working a block of wax with modeling tips, hacksaw, files, sandpaper and sometimes a point of heat or fire. It is similar to how children play with clay, but a little more complicated :)

Starting with the wax model (the green roses in the photos), we went to a smelter, which transforms that wax into metal, in this case sterling silver (white roses). Then come the finishes: rigging (for earrings), finishing (darkening the silver behind and on the bottoms in contrast to the polishing of the upper front) and mounting.

The legend of Sant Jordi and the Dragon (and the politically correct version)

Sant Jordi was a hipster without a beard, but with a mane that made all the ladies fall in love with him. Icon of Saint George (14th century), from a workshop in Constantinople. Athens: Byzantine and Christian museum.

The Catalan version of the legend of Saint George says that after a fierce combat of the knight and the dragon, the beast fell pierced by sharp iron and that a rosebush that bloomed profusely every April was born from the stream of blood that watered the earth. This is the explanation that oral tradition gives to the custom of giving roses on Sant Jordi day, April 23.

In my blog I present you an alternative version: the politically correct version of the legend of Saint George and the Dragon, with sensitivity against the absolutist power of kings, animal abuse, the objectification of women, the guillotination of flowers (which are also living beings) and the unfair obligation that hipsters must wear beards :-)

Beyond legends and stories, the tradition of giving roses to lovers is long overdue. Surely the link between Sant Jordi and the world of chivalry and courteous love has a lot to do with tradition. We also know that in the 15th century the so-called Lovers' Fair was held in Barcelona and that florists settled around the Palau de la Generalitat. It was customary to also give a rose to women who attended the mass celebrated in the chapel of Sant Jordi in the palace. In fact, the custom of giving roses has Roman roots, specifically the festivities in honor of the goddess Flora, which were later Christianized, and which in turn surely derive from ancient traditions related to the celebration of the arrival of good weather.

From a symbolic point of view, the red rose, the color of passion, is the flower of feminine love, while the carnation is reserved for masculine love. The dressing of the rose by Sant Jordi mixes elements from different origins: on the one hand, feminine love represented by the rose with red, velvety and fragile petals, and on the other hand the company of an ear of wheat that represents fertility.

Magical properties of Sant Jordi Roses collection

Although it is not scientifically proven, there are several authors who affirm that MeriTomasa's silver roses of Sant Jordi have various magical properties:

Detail of the icon of Saint George slaying the dragon. Reggio Calabria: Church of San Jorge Mártir.

• The princess who receives them suddenly increases her beauty. Sant Jordi roses enhance the beauty of the part of the body where they shine (ears, wrist, fingers or chest) and also the good overall plant of the princess who boasts them. The magazines of the heart ask her to do a photo report while having tea with her friends.
  
  
• The gentleman who gives them away also increases his beauty, especially in the more chivalrous attributes of the male figure. If the gentleman has a mustache or beard, for example, they become much more gallant mustaches or beards at the same time as hipsters. And if the gentleman is bald, his hair grows!
  
  
• The love between the princess and the knight becomes an indestructible and legendary love. In Hollywood they are inspired to make a movie, in Bollywood they make a musical and in the Barcelona Parallel they program the theatrical version, which becomes the hit of the season.
  
  
• If the knight and princess already have children, they grow more handsome. If they do not already have them, they conceive one in the next few hours after making the gift of the Sant Jordi roses. If they still don't have them and at the moment they don't want to have them, they win the lottery.
  
  
• Sant Jordi roses also have healing properties: they cure all diseases of the body and mind, make you more sportsman, enhance sexual vigor, remove the evil eye and protect against any curse made with black magic..
  
  

If you publish this list on your Facebook, between today and tomorrow you will find a 50 euro bill on the ground. If you publish it on Twitter, next week they will raise your salary at work and they will also ask you if you want to telework from home. If you send it to 15 friends by WhatsApp, in the next year you will lose 10 kilos without doing sports or diet.

Where can I buy the roses from Sant Jordi by MeriTomasa?

You will find my Sant Jordi Roses collection in the MeriTomasa's mobile store in the Passeig Pere III in Manresa, every April 23, and you can also buy them right now on the Internet, if you are afraid of arriving and that they are already finished, or if you want to receive them earlier at home, or if you want that any day it can be Sant Jordi.

And if you like it but would prefer it with some changes... please tell me and we will talk about it :)