Holidays and Traditions

Sant Joan in Spain is the midsummer solstice celebration marking the start of the summer season and the day with the longest period of daylight in the year. In Spain and Catalonia the Sant Joan celebrations are on the evening of the 23rd June.

This week Girona is the centre of the Flower Festival universe with concerts (mainly outdoors) and art exhibitions as well as most shops having some flowers in their displays which makes it a fun place to walk around for a few hours.

Well, another flower festival is here, or better said another "Temps de Flors." Girona looks splendid at this time of year and, excepting the crowds, is a truly delightful place to wander around taking in the small patios, chapels, street installation art and public buildings.

Some countries have kept family reunions separate from the present-giving commercial part of Christmas. Here in Catalonia the 25th and 26th of December are family days with nice meals and maybe a visit to church, but presents come on Three Kings day, or to be more precise on the night of the 5th and morning of the 6th of January.

Mona is a word coming from the arab “munna” which means gift. The Easter mona was a sweet bun with a hard boiled egg baked into it and which was traditionally given by godparents to their godsons and daughters.

It is very difficult to set a date to establish the beginning of the popular Catalan tradition. It has to be a very ancient one, since there is evidence of the celebration of the Roses Fair on the occasion of Sant Jordi’s day since the 15th century. This very fact tries to explain the link existing between the popular tradition and the symbolism of courtly love represented by the rose. However, beyond, all possible theories that might justify a tradition, the most important thing is that it has remained alive, and that it is an unmistakable symbol of Catalonia.