St Jordi

St Jordi's Day (St George's Day) in the distance always feel very strange. To me, it is one of the more magical days in Catalonia, with roses and books, Spring in full bloom and, usually, accompanied with good weather (or that is how I always remember it). When you are away, you cannot see the flower and book stalls, people on the streets, with roses in their hands, couples meeting, the smell of the air, the particular light of that day, all that. Far away, it is not a special day for people around you, but it is still for you. And I always did something on this day if I could.


Today, after days of rain and clouds, we had a very sunny day, a blue sky with white clouds, and warm, as it should be. Perfect to remind me what day it was, even on the far end of Asia.

And yes, I could find a red rose, small but very pretty, to give to a beautiful girl.

Animals

One of the first things you can see when you walk by, or enter, one of the temples strewn over Taiwan are the lions, demons, dragons or other animals, some made of stone, others from different materials, standing at the doors, or on columns or roofs. They can also be found in front of other singular buildings.

They may have different symbolic meaning, especially dragons. The ones guarding the doors are the ones that look more terrible, but their purpose is not to scare the faithful, but keep away bad spirits and other evil creatures. That is why they are shaped in those wild and contorted poses. It looks like not any two of them are the same, even if they are similar. Perfect motives for a camera, even if it took me a long time to realize it.

For today, some examples of lions. The first two were a pair at the door of a temple





This one, huge and not very traditional looking


And I am not sure what is that, if a lion or a dragon


More to come, soon.