If your name is Joseph or Josep or Josephine or Joe then today is your Saints Day. As I am not a Catholic this is something that I only found out about recently.  I wrote about it rather wearily at Christmas in relation to Sant Esteve or Saint Stephen whose day is on Boxing Day.  However March 19th is the special day of my partner who doesn’t want presents and isn’t interested in the Catholic significance of the day but is nevertheless happy to celebrate all things Josep and to enjoy the connection with all the others who share his name.
It’s a bit like a birthday – you can have special things on your saints day and people who know you send messages to wish you Felicitats (Happiness)
The Catalan tradition has been for many generations to name the first born son after his paternal grandfather and the second after his maternal grandfather.  So if you are a Josep it is highly likely you will have a grandparent who was also Josep and for years perhaps you celebrated your saints days together with a family meal. If he in his turn was named after his grandfather and so on then you can see how the long line of namesakes brings a special energy to the name. Perhaps it links you in other ways too – personality traits or physical attributes. Naming is such a mysterious thing.

Joseph of course is the father of Jesus so this saint is special for fatherhood, and for carpenters, and perhaps for men whose wife has been chosen by God?  Some people believe that if you put a statue of St Joseph in a house it will help you sell it – could be something useful in these times.
In Valencia there is an important celebration on Sant Josep called The Falles with processions, music and lots of fireworks.
It is traditional in Catalunya to eat Crema Catalana on Sant Josep which is what we are going to do tonight. For supper we had fish and chips in Penzance and as it was such a glorious day we celebrated by taking the dogs for a walk with some friends along the cliffs at Porthgwarra.