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Festes de la Merce

Listed under Festivals in Barcelona, Spain.

Barcelona's saint's day is celebrated with verve and passion, and every 24th September is a public holiday on which a joyous street party of vast proportions is held. While the Cava flows, sports and dance competitions are held, free concerts are given in the streets and huge firework displays light up the night. A traditional procession of painted wooden giants in Spanish costume is borne through the streets on the locals' shoulders, and in the Placa se Sant Jaume, teams of 'castellers' dress in coloured shirts and bandanas and compete to build the largest possible human tower.

Written by larapiegeler.

“10 top world festivals”

The Telegraph First Published 24 August 2008 The Catalan capital’s “festa major”, a final burst of pre-winter madness for the Mediterranean city, is dedicated to its co-patron saint, the Virgin of Mercy. Some 600 events take place, most of them in the … Read more...

Written by press. See the full article in The Telegraph, 24 August 2008

“Barcelona: The crowds are gone in December - and the locals like it that way”

By Henry Palmer for The Independent. First published 13th December 2008. It was an exhilarating and faintly surreal sensation. Suspended in mid-air over Barcelona last week, I gazed down over the tops of palm trees and across an expansive panorama of c… Read more...

Written by press. See the full article in The Independent, 13th December 2008

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world reviewer

Festes de la Merce

“10 top world festivals”

“Barcelona: The crowds are gone in December - and the locals like it that way”