Spain's Festival Season Starts With a Bang!

Article by: Regis St. Louis|@regisstlouis

Thu February 20, 2014 | 00:00 AM


Although it's better known for its fabulous restaurants and wild architecture (courtesy of Gaudí and company), Barcelona stages some of Spain's most colorful festivals. Les festes de Santa Eulalia, held in mid-February, is the first big bash of the year, and features folk dancing, fire runs, human castles, giant-headed parades, concerts, theater and art installations blanketing the old town. Attracting young and old from all walks of life, this four-day event is an authentic slice of Catalan culture — and all the more appealing given the few numbers of tourists that attend. As an added bonus, February is one of the most affordable times to visit the city. 

 

Giants

Not to be missed is the procession of gegants (giants), which features 4-meter-high characters dancing their way through the old Roman gates of the Ciutat Vella (old city) and onto Plaça de Sant Jaume, the main town square.

 

Fat Heads

On the square, the giants are joined by the capgrossos (fat heads) that weave their way through the crowd. Like their taller, papier-mâché relatives, capgrossos represent folk characters and whimsical beings and entertain the crowds by showering them with confetti or squirting them with water.

 

Acrobatic Towers

Catalans have a thing for building 'human towers'. Known in Catalan as falcons, these structures take many forms — from elaborate pyramids to three-person-high pillars. This tradition, popular in the early 1900s, fell out of fashion, but was revived in 2003, and is now a major part of Catalonia's fests.

 

Human Castles

One of the most exciting parts of the fest is watching the building of castells (human towers). These soaring structures can reach upwards of eight 'stories'. The tension in the crowd is palpable as the tiniest members of the troupe (some as young as six), climb their way to the top.

 

Strength, Courage and Comradeship

Below each castell, lies a scrum of fellow team members, who form a tight circle, giving maximum support to the structure. It takes strength, agility, teamwork and no small amount of courage to build these human towers. Teams practice many hours to hone their craft.

 

Catalan Pride

Near the Cathedral, a group of women show off their embroidery skills. The Catalan flag (four red bars on a yellow field) appears everywhere — often with the addition of a star and blue triangle, which indicates pro-independence. Catalonia will hold a referendum on independence from Spain in November this year.

 

Folk Dancing

Every day of the festival features sardana, a type of folk dance where participants gather in a circle and perform a series of light steps and hops as a 10-piece orchestra plays before them. Though popular mostly with an older crowd, all are welcome to join in, and there are always a handful of younger couples among the dancers.

 

Eulalia

Inside Barcelona's majestic gothic cathedral, dancers take the stage to re-enact the apocryphal story of Eulalia's life. Eulalia (AD 290–303) is Barcelona's copatron saint, who was martyred by the Romans at the age of 13 for refusing to renounce her Christianity.

 

Artful Lighting

All around the old city, light installations transform well-known spaces into wild new landscapes. In the Parc de la Ciutadella, one installation features laser-like search lights, other-worldly bass-heavy sounds and fog. The heavy rain adds to the eerie ambiance.

 

Cinematic Shows

Several key buildings in Barcelona, including the Ajuntament (city hall) and the Parlament de Catalunya, become backdrop to vivid 3D projections. The scene playing on the Parlament (pictured here) gives an overview of 2000 years of Catalan history, highlighting some of the great artists who helped shape its culture (like Miró and Picasso).

 

Craft Fair

During the festival, a daily fira d'artesania (craft fair) brought hand-made products from around Catalonia. Pottery, jewelry, old-fashioned toys and other wares are among the many stalls in front of the cathedral. You could also find olive oils, honey and torró — locally made nougat that's one of the city's signature sweets.  

 

Illuminated Sculptures

Different artists from across Catalonia created site-specific works for some 18 different spaces around Barcelona. The city hall published free maps to the locations, some of which were only accessible to the public during the festival. The piece pictured here was entitled "Murmuros y Ventanas" ("murmurs and windows"), and lay hidden in a Gothic courtyard.

 

Fire-Runs

When evening arrives, it's time for the rather frightening correfoc, or fire run. Participants dressed as devils light off explosive fireworks while dancing in a circle to the accompaniment of pounding drums. This year's correfoc was rained out, but this photo taken two weeks prior (at a correfoc in Gracia) shows what the experience is all about.

 

Words & images by Regis St. Louis

As a full-time travel writer since 2003, Regis has chased down some of the world's liveliest festivals. He has danced in Rio's Carnaval parade, raised a glass with wild-eyed horsemen in Todos Santos, Guatemala, and shared betel nut with feather-wearing warriors during the Kundu Festival in Papua New Guinea.