On 23 April Catalans give a rose and a book. Publishers release their spring titles that morning, authors sign at trestle tables along the Rambla and the Passeig de Gràcia for hours, florists sell several million roses, and a significant share of the Catalan book trade's annual sales happens in one day.
The custom combines a medieval rose fair with a book day instituted in 1926, and UNESCO took the date for World Book Day because it is the deathday of both Cervantes and Shakespeare.
No attendance figure is published, and the format — a city reading in the street — would not support one.
The date is fixed at 23 April. It is a working day in Catalonia, not a holiday, which means the crowds concentrate at lunchtime and after work. Barcelona's central avenues are impassable by late afternoon.
PlanningFixed on 23 April — a working day, not a holiday, and the streets are busiest at lunchtime and dusk.