Neighbourhood festivals
Barcelona, Catalunya and, indeed, all of Spain are great fans of the local festa (Catalan) or fiesta (Castilian). These celebrations take place in neighbourhoods, villages, towns and even cities (see page 32 for details of Barcelona’s event), usually coinciding with the feast day of the relevant patron saint, and see residents let their hair down in style. And in August, it is the turn of not one, not two, but three Barcelona neighbourhoods to hold their festa major—if you’re in town, you really should check them out. To the north of the city, Gràcia is particulary famed for the decorations hung up to adorn many of its streets (see above). It is no small matter, with fierce competition between local associations for the coveted prize of ‘best street’. Go along between the 15th and 21st and choose your own
Photo by Andrea Moreno
festes & traditions
favourite. Slightly more low-key, but still worth a look are the festes of Sants. This is another historic city area, with a tight-knit local community and is not often visited by tourists. Join in the fun at the Parc de la Espanya Industrial, where you can catch various Catalan traditions, such as human towers and caps grossos (‘big heads’). The dates were to be confirmed at the time of writing, but it is usually the penultimate week of August (www.festamajordesants.cat). Finally, for more unusual festivities, go to the Gothic quarter around August 16th, for the Festes de Sant Roc. Some of the activities that take place date back to the 16th century; these include la cucanya, where participants have to try and cross a greased-down tree-trunk; and glops amb el porró llarg, efforts to drink wine from a huge, long-spouted glass container.
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