Saint George's Day is World Book Day

23rd April is special: it's a holiday, we're well into the spring, many people have a picnic at Saint George's Knoll in Huesca. As in the rest of Spain, libraries have stalls in the street and it is customary to buy a book. UNESCO chose this date to celebrate World Book (and Copyright) Day, as it is the date when both Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died. This coincidence is not strictly correct, though. Accoding to the Wikipedia,

Cervantes died on 22 April and was buried on 23 April according the Gregorian calendar; however, at this time England still used the Julian calendar. Whilst Shakespeare died on 23 April by the Julian calendar in use in his own country at the time, he actually died eleven days after Cervantes because of the discrepancy between the two date systems.

Visit UNESCO' webpage to read an institutional message on the occasion.

In the UK, World Book Day is celebrated on the first Thrusday in March, with a focus on schoolchildren. Their colourful webpage includes videos of different authors giving tips on creating brilliant stories.

Saint George is a very popular saint in the world, patron of Aragón, Catalonia, England and Georgia, also venerated in many other countries including Ethiopia, India and Iraq. George was a soldier in the Roman imperial guard. When Diocletian issued an edict that all christian soldiers should be arrested, George didn't want to renounce his faith and was finally executed.

Saint George is most popular due to the legend of he and the dragon. Here's a cute version of the story:

Happy Saint George's Day!