The event was started by a Mallorcan named Toni Torrents in 1993. After coming to Barcelona with his family, he decided to also bring with him the flagship celebration of his village, where they mounted bonfires, sang, danced, and enjoyed barbequed food. The neighborhood of Gracia has warmly welcomed the tradition as one of their own, incorporating some of its cultural groups and associations into the main lineup of entertainment.
Every year in the middle of January, Barcelona honors Sant Antoni Abat (English: Saint Anthony the Abbot) in a series of events that take place over two consecutive weekends. The following weekend (usually the last in the month), a Mallorcan version of the celebration quite literally lights up the neighborhood of Gracia.
The official program of events actually starts on Thursday evening (every year it’s a Thursday to Saturday thing) where there’s a type of Mallorcan food tasting event with music. Following that, on Friday, they do a talk in the cultural center - this year’s is about the origin of how the festival was brought to Barcelona - and song and dance in another plaza. Then on Saturday we see the main event. Preceded by open markets, dance workshops, various performances, and preparation for the bonfires, the main ceremony begins around 8:30pm...
As with any sort of Festa Major (main celebration of an area) in Catalunya, you have all of the major players who come together in a parade that begins in front of the town hall and finishes in a giant square (Plaça de la Virreina). This includes the musical accompaniment including bagpipers, tambourines, and percussion groups, the insane firearms (which could literally be mistaken as bombs, and for some reason no one blinks twice here about it… ?!?), traditional cane/stick dance troupes, . . .
| . . . the giants of Gracia (my favorites cuz they’re adorbs!), various associations of “devils” and “demons,” correfoc troupes and beasts (fire runners and beasts that spit fire), and castellers (human towers). |
The various groups come from either the city of Barcelona, the neighborhood of Gracia, or the town of the celebration’s namesake, Sa Pobla in Mallorca. One of the reasons that this festival is held off until a week after the regular celebrations for Sant Antoni is actually because they need a hot minute to transport the all the groups, equipment, and giants over from Sa Pobla!
As the parade arrives into the final plaza, they light up the bonfires across the neighborhood and begin an evening of folkloric entertainment, song, and dance. Once the parade formalities finish and the bonfires are simmering down to embers, people gather around and pull out various foods that they have brought to be cooked over the flames (usually meats and sausages and vegetables). Together, they enjoy this communal barbeque dinner (and by communal, I’m talking about a plaza full of people on the ground enjoying their dinner together with friends and family!) until around midnight.
I want to go! How can I participate?
- Long before the festivities even begin, there’s actually an exhibition of the poster submissions for this year’s event. It's actually super cool to be able to check out the artwork and creativity of the people as they represent the festival through art. It is located in the association for the Festa Major de Gracia (Carrer de l’Alzina, 9).
- Conference and workshops are likely to be done in Catalan, if not Spanish, so I wouldn’t advise going IF you don’t feel comfortable with the language(s).
- The musical concert information can be found in the program posted at the bottom.
- If you are interested in checking out the evening events, I recommend coming from 8:30pm onwards. It depends on where you place yourself (at the beginning or end of the parade). It’s nice to watch the parade as it’s moving, to see the different acts of each group. But then try to hustle over to Virreina to be there for the finale as the correfocs start to arrive into the plaza; You DON’T want to miss that!
- If you want to do food, there are some vendors prepared to sell food when the roasting begins (in previous years they were set up in Plaça del Diamant). If you want to bring your own meat to cook, be prepared to bring EVERYTHING you need to cook it with and eat it with afterwards. Some of your neighbors may be kind enough to lend you their equipment and utensils, but don’t count on it, just to be safe!
- It’s a bit of a mad house squeezing in to cook your food and then looking for a place to eat it. Despite the chaotic premise, no one seems too fussed, so you shouldn’t either; it’s all part of the experience! Once you have your food cooked, smile as you squish into that small gap between those four different groups who are already basically back to back, and plop down to enjoy your meal. Don’t forget to look around you to appreciate the unique buzz of the company around you - how many times have you enjoyed a communally barbequed meal in the company of hundreds of complete strangers, and then sat down on the ground with all of them to eat it??
- The amazing thing about the bonfires is that they are located all over the place and not just in big plazas, so you may be wandering through a small street and at an unexpected intersection, come upon one. These are set up by the local street residents and so they usually offer a slightly more spacious accommodation for eating such as tables (or at least a doorstep). Just be sure to ask permission from the residents before you begin using their fire and spaces, because they brought it for themselves!
This video is a great demonstration of how everyone in the plaza enthusiastically participates in the song and dance...It is also a great demonstration of how short I am... :-/
Below are the links to the Facebook page and this year’s program!
Are you going? Have you gone to this event before? What are your reactions? Leave a comment!
www.facebook.com/fogueronsgracia/
Are you going? Have you gone to this event before? What are your reactions? Leave a comment!
www.facebook.com/fogueronsgracia/
fogueronsdegracia_2017.pdf |