Feast of Saint Mark

What it is

Saint Mark's Day belongs to Mark the Evangelist, and its date is 25 April. In Italy that date is a national holiday, though for a different reason: it recalls the country's liberation from Nazi-Fascist rule in 1945, not the saint. Elsewhere the day keeps its own character. Venice treats Mark as its patron. Lithuanians look to him as a guardian of the earth and of harvests. In Mexico his name is on a long fair in Aguascalientes, and Paraíso in Tabasco keeps the day because he is the city's patron.

The rosebud custom

In Venice the day is the Festa di san Marco. Venetians also call it the festa del bócoło, the rosebud festival. The custom itself is a single gesture: a man gives one rosebud to the woman he loves. It is repeated each 25 April, on the feast of the city's patron. The roses of the day are tied to a story as well as to the saint, and that story is the reason the flower is spoken of alongside him. The Venetian custom is the best known part of the feast outside the countries where the day is kept.

Origins and legend

Venice tells a legend about the beginning of the rosebud custom, and it places the origin in the 8th century. As the story goes, a man of low social standing fell in love with a noblewoman of the city. To win her father's approval he took part in a war far from home. He was fatally wounded in the fighting, yet managed to pick a rose from a bush growing nearby. A companion was trusted with carrying the blood-stained flower back to the woman he loved. The tale is told as legend, not as record.

Harvest and the earth

Lithuania keeps Saint Mark as the guardian of the earth and of the harvest, and two customs follow from that. Meat was not eaten on the day, so that the harvest would be a good one. People also held back from touching the earth: no ploughing and no digging, so that the soil could rest before the hard work of planting and reaping that lay ahead. The day is therefore a pause in the farming year, when the ground is left in peace and the saint is asked to watch over what it will give.

Fairs and shared meals

In Tresnuraghes, a village in Sardinia, the day brings a feast. Shepherd families, who make up much of this pastoral community, offer sheep and take charge of cooking them, as a way of thanking Providence. Other families bring bread, given in thanksgiving or for favours they hope for. Hundreds of people come together, mostly from the village itself, along with many from elsewhere, and they eat and drink their fill. In Mexico the date is kept in Aguascalientes, where it gives its name to the Saint Mark National Fair, which runs about three weeks, and in Paraíso in Tabasco, where the saint is the city's patron.

How Feast of Saint Mark is kept

The day is kept on 25 April in several places, and each place has its own pattern. In Venice a man gives a rosebud to the woman he loves, and the city honours its patron. In Tresnuraghes, shepherd families provide and cook sheep while other families bring bread; then hundreds of people share the meal. In Lithuania households leave the earth alone for the day and eat no meat, asking for a good harvest. In Aguascalientes the date opens a fair that lasts about three weeks, and in Paraíso it is the patron's day.

When and where

The feast falls every year on 25 April, the day given to Mark the Evangelist. The date is fixed in the calendar of saints, so it does not move. In Aguascalientes the fair that carries Saint Mark's name runs for about three weeks around that date rather than on the day alone.

It is kept in Italy, above all in Venice and in the Sardinian village of Tresnuraghes, in Lithuania, and in Mexico, in Aguascalientes and in Paraíso in Tabasco. Venice's own observance is the one tied to the rosebud, since the city keeps the day as the feast of its patron.

What Feast of Saint Mark means

For Venice the day belongs to the saint who watches over the city, and the rosebud carries the legend of a love that outlasted a death. In Lithuania the same saint is asked to protect the earth and the harvest, and the day becomes a rest for the soil before the work of planting. In Sardinia the shared table turns thanks into something everyone eats, and in Mexico the day marks a city under its patron's care.

Questions people ask about Feast of Saint Mark

See also

Nativity of MaryA Christian feast day honouring the birth of Mary, the mother of JesusDionysian MysteriesAncient Greek and Roman initiation rites of wine, ecstatic dance and spiritual rebirthSaint Joseph's DayA 19 March feast honouring Jesus' earthly father, kept with altars and processionsDanza de los ViejitosA Purépecha masked dance honouring the sun and the four elements in Michoacán

Good reading and sources

• Feast of Saint Mark on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-10.