Christmas

Festival Location: Catalonian Region, Spain

Festival Type(s): Christmas Celebrations, Religious Events

Christmas Media:

Christmas Festivals in Catalonia

By: © Genevieve Shaw 2009

The month of December brings a flurry of parties and celebrations, leading up to the culmination of Christmas chaos or cheer, depending on your own personal viewpoint. In Spain, Christmas is celebrated not only on the 25th of December but also includes all the surrounding days from the 24th of December (Noche Vieja) until the 6th of January (Reyes). This month, Barcelona Connect aims to bring you up to date with all the festivities taking place in Catalonia throughout December, so that a day trip outside Barcelona will take you on a trail of Christmas treasures and old time traditions.

First up is the Christmas Market in Caldes de Montbui, a roman town situated 30 km from Barcelona. This town is worth a visit for its history of natural hot spas, laid testimony to in the roman remains and the fountains that gush forth at temperatures of up to 75ºC in the main town square. On the 3rd and 4th of December, this historical town is converted into a market place of Christmas inspired arts and crafts. Medieval working traditions are displayed in the demonstrations of barrel makers, stone masons and carpenters. On Sunday at 5.30pm, you can enjoy the first Christmas carol concert of the year. (A7 to Girona. Before Mollet de Valls, take the C59 to Caldes de Montbui www.caldesdemontbui.org)

For a Christmas aperitif, visit the Fair of Christmas and Turron in Cardedeu, situated 37km from Barcelona, from the 9th until the 11th of December. The fair begins when a flaming torch is bought to the town centre from the Hermitage of Sant Hilari and is used to light an enormous bonfire in the town square. The bonfire remains lit until the close of the fair, both day and night, when another torch is taken back to the hermitage from the same bonfire. The events of the fair take place around the fire and include traditional story telling, dancing with sticks (Ball de Bastonets) and a communal dinner of soup (escudella), cooked over the fire in a huge cauldron. There is also a display of nativity scenes (pesebres) in the Chapel of Sant Corneli. Look out for the Caga Nei, a figure only found in Catalan nativity scenes, represented by a man squatting down to do his necessary business of the day. This figure is supposedly symbolic of the down to earth, common sense nature of the Catalan identity. (A7, C17 and C251 www.cardadeu.org)

The patron saint of Santa Llucia is celebrated in Gelida on the 13th and in St. Feliu de Pallerols 18thof December. Martyred in the IV century AD, Lucia, meaning light, has come to be associated with seeing and the eyes. For this reason, in Barcelona she was the patron saint for any profession that required good eye sight. The Santa Llucia fair is dedicated to the arts and crafts of these professions, as well as traditional dancing and food. Closer to home is the fair of Santa Llucia next to Barcelona cathedral from the 2cnd to the 23rd of December. Here you can buy moss, houses made from cork and everything that you need to make your own Nativity Scene.(Gelida A7 and BV2249, www.ajgelida.org - St. Feliu de Pallerols C63, direction Olot www.ddgi.es)

Catalonia has its own unique traditions over the Christmas period and perhaps one of the more unusual is "Caga Tio". Politely translated, this means "empty your bowels" and is, in reality, a little log with a face drawn on one end and wearing a red peasant hat called a "barratina". On Reyes, the 6th January, Caga Tio sits in the living room on top of a mound of presents, covered with a blanket. When the children wake up, they run downstairs and hit Caga Tio with a stick while singing a song that orders Caga Tio to loosen his bowels and let drop the presents. To see this tradition in full swing before Reyes, take a trip to Sant Vincenç de Castellet on the 18th December where the festival of the Caga Tio is held. At 5pm in the town square the ceremony begins where you can watch, in addition, a human nativity scene and traditional dancing. (N2 and C55 www.santvi.net)

Last but certainly not least, enjoy a spectacular Christmas Eve at the Pegan festival "Fia Faia" in the towns of Bagà and Sant Julia de Cerdanyola on the 24th of December. Set only a few kilometres apart, these towns enact a celebration of the winter solstice on the longest night of the year, which consists in burning hundreds of tree trunks in the town square. This is thought to prolong daylight and protect the towns' people from darkness. It is believed that this festival allows the sun to newly rise the following day. Before the tree trunks are set alight, a bonfire is lit on top of the mountain, separating the towns, when the sun goes down. Shortly after, fire-lighters walk down the mountain side with flaming torches which are used to set fire to the trunks, on reaching both towns. Program of events: Bagà-18.00hrs: lighting of the fire on the hillside, 18.30: descent of the fire lighters, 18.50: Reception of the fire lighters by the church, 19.00: Lighting of the logs and procession towards the main square. On reaching the main square, there is dancing round the fire and coca (savoury cake) with garlic mayonnaise. The same fiesta takes place in Sant Julia, on the other side of the mountain, but the atmosphere is more intimate and fewer logs are burned. (C16 www.viladebaga.org)

culTOURa : Trips in English to the Folkloric and Fantastical "Festes" of Catalonia

culTOURa wants people to experience the sometimes strange, always stunning, Catalan customs. Throughout the year, festivals and "Festes" turn the Catalan towns into magical kingdoms of Giants, Human Castles, Dragons and Devils. culTOURa brings these traditions alive for visitors in an alternative form of cultural tourism, while promoting Catalonia as a place with its own unique identity.