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Festes de la Mercè
The biggest annual festival, held around
September 24, is dedicated to
Our
Lady of Mercy
, co-patroness of the
city, whose image is paraded from the
church of La Mercè near the port. It’s
an excuse for a week of merrymaking,
culminating in spectacular pyrotechnics
along the seafront. Every unique element
of a Catalan festival can be seen at some
stage during the Mercè – firework-toting
demons chasing onlookers through the
streets, human castle-builders reaching
for the sky, processions of lumbering
giants, and locals linking hands in the
traditional circle-dance, the
sardana
.There
are outdoor concerts across the city,
bicycle races, children’s events and family
activities, and even free admission to city
museums and galleries on the saint’s day.
A team of castellers
Castles in the sky
Guaranteed to draw crowds at every
festival are the teams of
castellers
– castle-makers – who pile person upon
person, feet on shoulders, to see who
can construct the highest, most aesthet-
ically pleasing tower. It’s an art that goes
back over 200 years, combining indi-
vidual strength with mutual cooperation
– perhaps this is why it was discouraged
as an activity under Franco. Nowadays,
it’s very popular once again, with soci-
eties known as
colles
in most Catalan
towns who come together to perform at
annual festivals and events. There’s a
real skill to assembling the
castell
, with
operations directed by the
cap de colla
(society head) – the strongest members
form the crowd at the base, known as
the
pinya
, with the whole edifice topped
by an agile child, the
anxaneta
, who lifts
their palm above their head to “crown”
the castle. Ten human storeys is the
record.