Floral Games
Initially the floral games were intended to keep alive the poetic language and style of the Occitan troubadours, but in time this aim was forgotten.
[1] In 1554 the Constistori, now the Collège, awarded a silver eglantine rose to none other than Pierre de Ronsard, the greatest French poet of his generation, for his Amours.
[3] The festival included a Catalan poetry contest, modelled on those held in Toulouse, Paris, and other illustrious cities,[b] and the poems submitted would be judged by a panel of literati.
This festival is called a bella festa ... an honor de la dita gaya ciencia, the prizes for which were provided by the municipal government of Barcelona.
On 1 May 1398, John's successor, Martin the Humane (Martí l'Humà, Martín I d'Aragón), agreed to subsidise the annual festival and cover the cost of the gold and silver prizes for the winners, to be chosen by mantenidors (maintainers) named by the king.
At the height of romanticism in 1859, during the Catalan Renaixença, Antoni de Bofarull and Víctor Balaguer re-established the floral games (jocs florals or Jocs de la Gaia Ciència) in Barcelona on the first Sunday in May with the theme of Patria, Fides, Amor (Country, Faith, Love), alluding to the three typical prizes: the Englantina d'or (golden eglantine) given for the greatest patriotic poem, the Flor Natural (natural flower, the prize of honour, an actual rose) for the greatest love poem, and the Viola d'or i argent (gold and silver violet) to the greatest religious poem.
A person winning all three great prizes was given the honorific title of Mestre en Gai Saber ("Master of the Gay Science").
The intellectual and political classes swiftly patronised the Jocs Florals and their support lent renewed prestige to Catalan poetry.
The Jocs of Valencia witnessed thirty-five Mestres en Gai Saber and two female winners of the Flor Natural (top prize, an actual rose).
The Regina (queen) who sits in the Cadira d'Or (golden chair) is elected alternatingly from the three Valencian provinces (Alicante, Castellón, and Valencia) and from the comarques.
Proper floral games lasted up until Antoine D'Abbadie's death in 1897, but their legacy was taken over by like initiatives, such as the Basque Festival in Donostia (presently held in early September).
