This January 14th, I strolled down a shopping street in Barcelona and… Hearts. Red. "Give love." "Surprise them." Gift sets. Ribbons. Valentine's Day was on full display as if it were imminent.

The progressive lady fastens her seatbelt and gives the address to the taxi driver. He smiles and listens, enriched, to the friend who speaks through the radio. "Hey! I saw a woman with a rose, and I thought, children...!" He talks to everyone else about Valentine's Day. The professor smiles, hearing him, because, if she were to say, she would say that she celebrates Sant Jordi. But she celebrates nothing. She finds it funny to hear this man, through the radio, and what he drives, which makes her mad.

Every year we are bombarded with chocolates, balloons, songs, films and a thousand other representations of romantic love. But it seems that we Catalans decide to close our eyes and ignore February 14th. And although it seems undeniable that Sant Jordi is the day of lovers in Catalonia, Google search statisticsreveal that interest in both celebrations is more balanced than it might seem. And Valentine's Day may have a more Catalan past than we think. In fact, we have evidence of February 14 as Valentine's Day since the 15th century. Specifically, there is a mention of this holiday in a poem by Vega-Aguiló songbook where one can interpret the condition of Saint Valentine as the patron saint of lovers. The song is attributed to the poet Pardo de la Casta, who dedicates it to a lady of unknown name and tells her that "time demands that she sing" for "the joyful day of the noble Saint Valentine."