Today is a a very important day in Catalonia, is like Valentine's Day for the rest of the world, that's why today I want to share with you the words "La Rosa i El Drac".
It is quite original because the 23rd of April is an important day for England too, but we can say we celebrate it quite differently. If you ever visit Catalonia one day like today you'll find all the cities full of book markets and flowers, because is tradition to give your loved ones a rose and a book."La Rosa i El Drac" means "The Rose and The Dragon".
I found this translation of our legend, I hope you like it... (the source is Catalans a Aarhus)
According to legend, there was a terrifying dragon located in the village of Montblanc, south-west of Barcelona. The dragon was always hungry, so the people in the village gave him one animal a day to keep it from attacking the village. However, one day the dragon ate the last of the animals, and then it started eating the people of the village too. In order to satisfy the hunger of the dragon, the people of the village decided to randomly chose a person every day to be sacrificed to the beast.
One day the princess’ name came up, and although that made the King very sad, he sent her to the dragon. But just when the dragon was about to eat the princess, a brave and handsome knight, known as Sant Jordi, rode into town and killed the beast with his spear, saving her life.
From the blood of the dragon, there grew a rose bush, and Sant Jordi took a red rose and gave it to the princess as a sign of his love. Everybody in the village was very happy the dragon was dead and they lived peacefully ever after.
Labels: Català; Ara i Sempre, Language, New Word, Words
