Sant Jordi (I)

Is Sant Jordi the Eid al-Adha with roses?

Last night when I arrived home at 22h, I was asked about the weather outside, which my flatmate never did... and it was already dark. I got confused. "It is for tomorrow. I am worried because if it rains, you know... Half of the books sold every year will be on Sant Jordi." My flatmate works in a literature agency. And it had been raining for three days in Barcelona. "No, it is already not raining." I replied.

Finally today it has been a sunny day like every year - Good for bookstores, publishing houses, authors... AND, rose-sellers. People date for lunch or dinner, get off work earlier. In the streets you see books and roses everywhere. However, it is astonishing to think that 40% of roses are sold on one day - 40% of roses planted during the year are destined to be cut for Sant Jordi.

Click here to see (in English) what roses mean in Catalan Sant Jordi.

A friend who lives in an Islamic country once told me that she would not go out the whole day of Eid al-Adha, when each family sacrifices a lamb. Now I feel the same sadness for the roses. And I am even not a vegetarian. But it makes me uncomfortable just to think this crazy behavior provoked by a reason that sounds so "correct": Traditional, meaningful lovers' day that promote reading, and so beautiful in the atmosphere of spring...

But how many books sold on Sant Jordi day are going to be read later? And how many roses, sold or not, will instantly end on this day?

If the example of Eid al-Adha is not convenient for your culture or background, then how about La Tomatina? With the latter (collage from Internet), I believe quite a few of you would think of an organized collective waste rather than fun. However, when tomatoes are replaced by roses, we no more feel so much rationality on the fact of waste.

The strange, or the logic moment comes, when I remember of Moral Licensing, concept that I have just heard of in Dan Ariely's popular course about behavior. In short words, the idea is that when you have done some "moral" things, then you are more likely to grant yourself dishonesty in the upcoming choices. You will not feel as guilty as when you had no moral license. Here, in Sant Jordi, this license comes from culture spreading, beauty, and evidently, love.

There was a video in the course by Nina Mazar. And I am glad to find somebody also uploaded it to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O30kAcJOXdw It is a little long, but everything quite well explained - specially the simple and effective methods - and it is worthy watching : )

Actually, self-licensing is everywhere in our everyday life. A common example might be the "self-reward" with high-calorie foods and drinks after doing exercises...