Visiting Barcelona anytime soon? plan your visit around the traditional festivals
Sep 23rd, 2022, 07:07 AM
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Visiting Barcelona anytime soon? plan your visit around the traditional festivals
Just food for thought...
Catalonia, and more specifically its capital city Barcelona, has been a favourite tourist destination of many visitors to Europe for decades. Rivers of ink have been written about its landscapes, museums, gastronomy, art and culture, etc. But still, a lot of visitors are not aware of the richness of its folk culture and traditions some of which are displayed in the form of annual festivals and fairs. Some of them have been uninterruptedly celebrated since the Middle Ages.
There are all sorts of festivals and fairs: some dedicated to food, others to arts in all its forms, others are historical re-enactments or religious celebrations -both Christian and Pagan-, etc. They run into the hundreds per year across the whole of Catalonia and given Catalonia is "just" the size of Maryland (US) or Belgium and with a population of "barely" 8 million, these are indeed a lot of opportunities for you to catch one.
Among the various festivals held throughout the year, one festival that stands out above the rest is the "Festa major" (pronounced like https://forvo.com/word/festa_major/#ca ).
A Festa Major (roughly translated as The Major Festival) is a sort of annual street party celebrated in most cities, neighbourhoods, towns and villages throughout Catalonia. Each one of them has its own festa major and it’s the most important celebration in the annual calendar. You’ll find these quirky events around the world, as both big and small towns celebrate the unique traditions and occurrences that make their communities special. From the hamlets of rural North Carolina to the villages of France to the beaches of South Korea — festivals are sure to leave you puzzled and delighted by local life. A festa major is in fact, the name given in Catalan to these types of events.
Typically a festa major commemorates an important event in the town or area’s history and tradition, such as its foundation. This can be both a celebration and a festivity, that is, a party in honour of a patron or patroness saint of the town and often, if the saint’s celebration date (as per the Roman Catholic church calendar) doesn’t fall in summer months, a second festa is celebrated in this season. Usually they last three days, often starting on a Friday although some major cities, due to their large population, celebrate a longer festa major. Note that in these cases, during weekdays, work carries business-as-usual, as most events happen in the evening.
The festa major is the meeting point of the local community that meets annually around some common scenarios -ie. the main square, the church, etc.- to affirm their existence as a group with shared symbolic references. These festivals are held at least since the 13th century. It combines both religious and profane ceremonies (ie. religious sermons and processions, parades, dances and other traditional art performances). Over the years, the profane ceremonies have really taken over the religious essence of the festivity and nowadays its role has substantially diminished turning the festa major into a civic festivity with plenty of entertainment for everybody and streets adorned with garlands. There are different displays of popular and traditional arts such as castellers, grallers (music), giants and big-heads, tabalers (music), sardanistes (dance) or diables (devils) and correfocs (fire-runs) among others. Many of them carry a strong symbolism rooted in old legends, beliefs and popular characters dating back several centuries.
As an example here you have a video of the Festa Major of the small town of Valls, located in the south of Catalonia, and famous also for its calçots:
Apologies for both the low quality and length of the video presented but we thought it was interesting nonetheless to illustrate this event. This is a one-hour long video summarizing the different displays of music, dances and traditions during the Festa Major of Valls This is in fact a great all-in-one summary to show many of the popular and traditional arts mentioned above.
Almost every one of the 948 cities, towns and villages of Catalonia has its 'festa major'. When you visit Catalonia, don’t forget to check the different city or town councils’ websites to see when their festa major will be celebrated. It’s an event not to miss and a perfect opportunity to better understand their people and their traditions, and it’s certainly much better if you tag along some local folks and get them to explain to you some of the meanings of the different performances.
More information:
Festivities in Catalonia throughout the year – In Catalan only (use Google Translate!!!)
festacatalunya.cat
festes.org
In BARCELONA, some of the most popular festivals -including "festa major"- throughout the year are:
Visitors are always welcome to participate in and enjoy our traditional festivals.
To me, one of the most spectacular is Festes de la Mercè, in late September, celebrated in honour of one of the City's patronesses (https://www.barcelona.cat/lamerce/en/history). In the short span of three days, over 1.5 million visitors enjoy the more than 500 activities and concerts spread across the Old City in downtown Barcelona. More details here: https://www.barcelona.cat/lamerce/en
A glimpse of La Mercè in Barcelona:
Another festival worth visiting is Festes de Gràcia, celebrated in mid-August:
Did I mention they're ALL FREE to attend?
Enjoy!
#catalonia #barcelona #catalan #festamajor #culture #traditions #festivals #family-oriented
Catalonia, and more specifically its capital city Barcelona, has been a favourite tourist destination of many visitors to Europe for decades. Rivers of ink have been written about its landscapes, museums, gastronomy, art and culture, etc. But still, a lot of visitors are not aware of the richness of its folk culture and traditions some of which are displayed in the form of annual festivals and fairs. Some of them have been uninterruptedly celebrated since the Middle Ages.
There are all sorts of festivals and fairs: some dedicated to food, others to arts in all its forms, others are historical re-enactments or religious celebrations -both Christian and Pagan-, etc. They run into the hundreds per year across the whole of Catalonia and given Catalonia is "just" the size of Maryland (US) or Belgium and with a population of "barely" 8 million, these are indeed a lot of opportunities for you to catch one.
Among the various festivals held throughout the year, one festival that stands out above the rest is the "Festa major" (pronounced like https://forvo.com/word/festa_major/#ca ).
A Festa Major (roughly translated as The Major Festival) is a sort of annual street party celebrated in most cities, neighbourhoods, towns and villages throughout Catalonia. Each one of them has its own festa major and it’s the most important celebration in the annual calendar. You’ll find these quirky events around the world, as both big and small towns celebrate the unique traditions and occurrences that make their communities special. From the hamlets of rural North Carolina to the villages of France to the beaches of South Korea — festivals are sure to leave you puzzled and delighted by local life. A festa major is in fact, the name given in Catalan to these types of events.
Typically a festa major commemorates an important event in the town or area’s history and tradition, such as its foundation. This can be both a celebration and a festivity, that is, a party in honour of a patron or patroness saint of the town and often, if the saint’s celebration date (as per the Roman Catholic church calendar) doesn’t fall in summer months, a second festa is celebrated in this season. Usually they last three days, often starting on a Friday although some major cities, due to their large population, celebrate a longer festa major. Note that in these cases, during weekdays, work carries business-as-usual, as most events happen in the evening.
The festa major is the meeting point of the local community that meets annually around some common scenarios -ie. the main square, the church, etc.- to affirm their existence as a group with shared symbolic references. These festivals are held at least since the 13th century. It combines both religious and profane ceremonies (ie. religious sermons and processions, parades, dances and other traditional art performances). Over the years, the profane ceremonies have really taken over the religious essence of the festivity and nowadays its role has substantially diminished turning the festa major into a civic festivity with plenty of entertainment for everybody and streets adorned with garlands. There are different displays of popular and traditional arts such as castellers, grallers (music), giants and big-heads, tabalers (music), sardanistes (dance) or diables (devils) and correfocs (fire-runs) among others. Many of them carry a strong symbolism rooted in old legends, beliefs and popular characters dating back several centuries.
As an example here you have a video of the Festa Major of the small town of Valls, located in the south of Catalonia, and famous also for its calçots:
Apologies for both the low quality and length of the video presented but we thought it was interesting nonetheless to illustrate this event. This is a one-hour long video summarizing the different displays of music, dances and traditions during the Festa Major of Valls This is in fact a great all-in-one summary to show many of the popular and traditional arts mentioned above.
Almost every one of the 948 cities, towns and villages of Catalonia has its 'festa major'. When you visit Catalonia, don’t forget to check the different city or town councils’ websites to see when their festa major will be celebrated. It’s an event not to miss and a perfect opportunity to better understand their people and their traditions, and it’s certainly much better if you tag along some local folks and get them to explain to you some of the meanings of the different performances.
More information:
Festivities in Catalonia throughout the year – In Catalan only (use Google Translate!!!)
festacatalunya.cat
festes.org
In BARCELONA, some of the most popular festivals -including "festa major"- throughout the year are:
- Spring: Easter, Sant Jordi, Santa Rita, Aplec de Santa Madrona, Cors muts, Corpus Christi
- Summer: Nit de Sant Joan, Processió de la Verge del Carme, Festa de Sant Cristòfor, Fests de Gràcia, Festes de Sants
- Autum: Festes de la Mercè, Tots Sants
- Winter: Christmas, Sants Innocents, Three Kings Parade, Festes de Santa Eulàlia, Tres Tombs de Barcelona, Tres Tombs de Sant Andreu del Palomar, Tres Tombs Infernals, Sant Antoni Bonfires, Barcelona Carnival, Sant Medir
Visitors are always welcome to participate in and enjoy our traditional festivals.
To me, one of the most spectacular is Festes de la Mercè, in late September, celebrated in honour of one of the City's patronesses (https://www.barcelona.cat/lamerce/en/history). In the short span of three days, over 1.5 million visitors enjoy the more than 500 activities and concerts spread across the Old City in downtown Barcelona. More details here: https://www.barcelona.cat/lamerce/en
A glimpse of La Mercè in Barcelona:
Another festival worth visiting is Festes de Gràcia, celebrated in mid-August:
Did I mention they're ALL FREE to attend?
Enjoy!
#catalonia #barcelona #catalan #festamajor #culture #traditions #festivals #family-oriented
Last edited by EnricM; Sep 23rd, 2022 at 07:20 AM. Reason: Adding Festes de Gràcia
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