Around the 24th of September Festival de La Merce takes place in Barcelona. This 5 days festival is the biggest festival in Barcelona and takes place at the end of the summer, just for the start of the autumn. The festival is held in honour of Mare de Deu de la Merce, the Patron Saint Of Barcelona. In 1902 the first edition was held.
In these few days hundreds of activities are being held on the Barcelona streets: there are musicians and street artists who are performing amongst the public. Moreover the festival consists out of a lot of traditions: human castles, giants, beasts and various guests of the Mediterranean. It´s not only the street which is used as a theater since the sky is the limit, there are multiple performances done in the sky, acrobatic things, balloons and ultra lights.
One major element which is coming back in a lot of festivals is fire. Since the Spaniards/Catalans believe that fire is scaring the ghosts away. During the festival there are big musical fireworks and a fire run.
Al the events are held on the streets therefore we advice people to try avoiding the city centre by car, since it will be impossible to drive.
People see the fire run as one of the festival highlights, during this run there will be a lot of fire and fireworks. The run consist out of groups whom are dressed up as dragon´s and walk around with a lot of sparkling and bright fireworks. Due to this fact it´s advisable to take protective clothing, hats and glasses since a lot of the sparkler fireworks sprays into the crowd. There are 2 versions of the festival, one is especially for children. The main difference is the use of fireworks, during the children edition the crowd won´t be sprayed with fireworks.
The second highlight are the Human Towers. These towers attract a lot of people to plaza Jaume: the main aim of the tower builders (Castellers) is to build a human tower and have a young child climbing to the top and stand up.
The festival is seen as Barcelona´s main street event; therefore this would be the perfect occasion to visit Barcelona and enjoying its culture. During these 5 days you can see 500 different events, with highlights as the Fire run and Human towers. FlatsByDays can offer multiple apartments two streets off plaza Jaume, the location of these Human Towers.
Tags: Autumn, Festival de Merce, Fire run, FlatsbyDays, Human Tower, Parade, Street, Tradition
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