Holiday Barcelona Blog

At many festivals you are likely to see circles of people dancing the Sardana. The Sardana is a typical Catalonian dance and is different from the other Spanish dances. The origin of this dance lies in Greece. Some people say that the dance was introduced during the period of Greek trading posts around Barcelona. Others say that the Sadana was not practices in Catalonia until the 15th centry, when Sardinia was occupied by the Catalans. In any case, the Sardana became a symbol of national identity.

At many festivals you are likely to see circles of people dancing the Sardana. The Sardana is a typical Catalonian dance and is different from the other Spanish dances. The origin of this dance lies in Greece. Some people say that the dance was introduced during the period of Greek trading posts around Barcelona. Others say that the Sadana was not practices in Catalonia until the 15th centry, when Sardinia was occupied by the Catalans. In any case, the Sardana became a symbol of national identity. The Sardana is a dance performed in a circle with your arms raised. The more people join the circle, the bigger it gets. When the circle gets to big the dancers form more circles. It's inadvisable for visitors to join in, because one wrong move van put the entire circle out of step.

Castellers, Catalonian tower building

At least one big festival is celebrated in every town once a year. You'll find the streets full of people wearing traditional costumes. A typical action people perform on the street is called Casteller. This is a tower of humans. The idea is to build a tower by standing on each others shoulders as high as possible. Every tower is topped by a small boy, called the anxaneta, and can be up to 7 stores high.

Barcelona, the city of festivals

Mostly the origin of the festivals in Barcelona are religious as the Catholicism recovered all the pagan and accepted them. On the official website of the government of Barcelona you can find the public holiday. Below I'm mentioning some special events:

• End of Februari: The moment of Carnivals in Barcelona. On February the 14th it's Valentines Day and on March the 3rd is the San Medir festival in Grácia.
• April 23rd: Festival of San Jordi (Saint George). This festival coincides with the rose and book festivals.
• Begin of June: A modern festival calles Sonar is held. It's a party of 4 days long with famous DJ's.
• June 24th: The festival of Saint John, in Spanish San Joan is held. On the beach of Barceloneta you'll find big fireworks and bonfires.
• August 15th: The festival of Assumption in the district of Grácia.
• September 24th: La Merce, a big festival with typical dances and of course also the Sardanas. Also sport events are held during this festival.

The background of Catalonia

The ancient Greeks colonised Catalonia and their first settlement was in the Rosas area. Later the Romans came and Catalonia became part of the Roman empire. After Roman empire Catalonia became under Visigothic rule (over 4 centuries). In the 8th century it came under Moorish al-Andalus control, after the defeat of Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi's troops in 732. In the 8th century the troops of Charlemagne wrested pars of Catalonia from the Muslims. In the Middle Ages the Catalonian culture was developed. Catalonia consisted of several Kingdoms during this period. In 987 the count of Barcelona did not recognize the French king Hugh Capet and his new dynasty, which put Catalonia beyond Frankish rule. In 1137 the count of Barcelona married the Queen of Aragon, establishing the dynatic union of the County of Barcelona with the Kingdom of Aragon that was to create the Crown of Aragon. Under Jaume I the Conqueror the Catalans sought to drive the Moors out of the Mediterranean completely. Over the next century Mediterranean expansion continued with the conquest of Sicily, Sardinia and Southern Greece. Just when Catalonia's Golden Age was at its height, disaster struck the House of Barcelona. Martí the Humane died and Fernando de Antequerra became king in 1410. Spaniards claim that the reign of the Catholic Kings marks the beginning of Spain as a nation. During the reign of Felipe IV, the monarch came under the influence of the autocratic Count-Duke Olicvares, who when war broke out with France in 1635, demanded a disproportionate contribution of money and men. The Spanish Succession war started in 1705. To the English and Dutch a united Austria and Spain was unpleasant a prospect as a French-Spanish axis, so they pulled out of the alliance leaving Catalonia alone to dace 200,000 Franco-Spanish troops. On September the 11th 1714 Barcelona finally fell.