Saint George 1976: a euphoric party that ended in chases

BarcelonaAfter Franco's death in November 1975, Catalan culture experienced an urgent need to reclaim public space. And on Sant Jordi's Day in 1976, this became very evident. That year, the festival was celebrated with great euphoria, despite the shadow of the dictatorship also being felt. “It seemed like a great day, that April 23rd. I come from the Civil Registry, where a friend will soon be able to change a Hispanized name for its native form; I see Catalan flags, Catalan books overflowing the stalls, the bust of Prat de la Riba once again occupying a place in the corner of the Patio de los Naranjos of the Generalitat and, to top it all off, a novelty of novelties, a Catalan newspaper, the first in 37 years, after an order erased our press from the map, along with the Statute and so many other things,” wrote the writer Manuel de Pedrolo, who also signed copies of his book Procés de contradicció suficient, published by Ediciones 62.

Pedrolo affirmed, in this article published in the Avui, that Sant Jordi was overwhelmed because there were many dragons to kill. The writer concluded the chronicle by defending that Catalonia should be "a place where we feel that nothing is ours but everyone's". As Pedrolo explained, that year the Avui came out, with a print run of 123,066 copies which sold out before nine in the morning. A reader, in the newspaper of April 24, requested that images of Sant Jordi return. “On the occasion of the events that began on July 19, 1936, an image of Sant Jordi disappeared from the cathedral of Barcelona. It was in the place where there is currently a reproduction of the Mare de Déu del Pilar”. The article in La Vanguardia also conveyed the euphoria experienced in the streets: “A clear affirmation of the love for books, culture, and Catalonia”.

The success of political books

It was not easy to organize a Sant Jordi festival at that time. Cultura en ruta, a campaign by Òmnium Cultural started in 1970 that traveled through Catalan territory with a bookmobile selling books and records in Catalan, sought a large enough venue in Barcelona shortly before Sant Jordi to receive books from publishers and distribute them. It had a team of twenty people working for three months, organized 182 stalls, and achieved a sales volume of 3,907,214 pesetas. On Sant Jordi itself, La Vanguardia spoke of how political and sociological books had displaced “pure literature”. There was also an abundance of titles on sexual themes, which the journalist did not particularly like, and encouraged the purchase of The Art of Loving, by Erich Fromm, because it had a more Christian inspiration. That year, quite a few copies of Born Innocent. The Drama of Juvenile Reformatories (Ediciones Martínez Roca), by Gerald Di Pego; All the Neighborhoods of Barcelona (Ediciones 62), by Jaume Fabre and Josep M. Huertas Claveria; The Fall of the Sodomite Empire and Other Heretical Stories (Ediciones 62), by Terenci Moix; What are the Political Parties of Catalonia (La Gaya Ciencia), by Josep Maria Castellet and Lluís Maria Bonet; Prison Diary. The Obsessive Spectacle (Laie), by Lluís Maria Xirinacs, and Prisoner Woman (Ediciones 62), by Teresa Pàmies.

Publicacions Abadia de Montserrat published many titles on the history and legends of Catalonia. Many Catalan children's and youth publications and magazines sold out, and Joaquim Carbó's "El zoo a casa" (La Galera) was quite successful. Among many other books, "Retrats paral·lels" (Publicacions Abadia de Montserrat) by Montserrat Roig; "Un regne per a mi" by Pau Faner, Sant Jordi Prize 1975 (Aymà), and "Crònica d’Isambard" (Aymà) by Toni Turull, a finalist for the Pla Prize 1976, could be seen at the stalls.

The Diario de Barcelona (La Galera), by Joaquim Carbó. Among many other books, at the stalls you could see The confrontations with the police

In his diary, Epifani de Fortuny i Salazar, Baron of Esponellà, collected congratulations from different entities, such as Òmnium Cultural, with an illustration of El crit (1975) by Grau Garriga and another with verses by Clementina Arderiu: “Tend your rose bushes! Cease your blooming, for Saint George the knight is already here”. The one that deserves a comment, however, is from the general secretary of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi, Joan Bassegoda Nonell: “It's the first time I've been congratulated on my saint's day without it being my saint's day...”, he wrote ironically. The Baron of Esponellà assured that Bassegoda was aware that it was not his saint's day but that he had wanted to make it public that "the academy was Jordian".

, there were also "countercultural demonstrations", with young people exhibiting the magazine Els segadors and L’estaca by Lluís Llach. At the demonstration on La Rambla, the police appeared with rubber bullets and smoke bombs, and there were injuries. According to the Diario de Barcelona, there were also "countercultural demonstrations", with young people exhibiting the magazine Ajoblanco. "They shouted political slogans with incoherent motives", assured the journalist, who also explained that they simulated a robbery and urinated on the facade of the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

The medal for Martín Villa

In the Palau de la Generalitat, which that year had not yet recovered its name and was the seat of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, the official mass and the blessing of the roses were celebrated. Mayor Viola explained that he had managed to buy the book, but not the newspaper Avui: “All the kiosks had sold out before nine”, he assured. Among those present was also the Minister of Labor Relations and former civil governor of Barcelona, Rodolfo Martín Villa, there were also "countercultural demonstrations", with young people displaying the magazine