Happy St Mark’s Day!
In Italian: Festa di San Marco, also known as the rosebud festival (Venetian: festa del bòcolo), is a festival in Venice held on 25 April celebrating Venice’s patron saint, Saint Mark. On this day, men traditionally give a single rosebud to the women they love.
According to legend, the tradition originated in the 8th century, when a man of low social standing is said to have fallen in love with a noblewoman from Venice. In order to win her father’s approval, he became involved in a distant war. He was mortally wounded in battle, but managed to pluck a rose from a nearby rosebush for his loved one. A companion was entrusted with returning the blood-stained rose to his lover. [Wikipedia]
