La Mercè is the patron saint of Barcelona since 1687. It is said that in that year there was a plague of locusts, and that people prayed to the Virgin of La Mercè. The city overcame the plague, so the City Council named her patron saint of Barcelona. Since 1868, festivities were held in September each year to commemorate the patron saint. A few years later, in 1871, there was the first La Mercè Festival as such, which became a model for other festivals that still nowadays take place in Catalonia.
What’s the current Festival like? Well, to begin with, September 24th is a holiday in Barcelona, so we get the day off to explore the city. For about four or five days, there are hundreds of activities in several districts, including concerts, street art, traditional dances, fireworks, exhibitions, and many more. The festival focuses on Mediterranean culture and it presents popular culture elements from all areas of Catalonia, the most iconic being the traditional “sardana” dance and the human castles (“castellers”).
*Imagen por Feradz. Extraída de Wikipedia, con licencia Creative Commons CC BY 3.0
This year, La Mercè Festival takes place from September 23rd to September 26th. The full program is available on La Mercè website, and also in La Mercè app (Android / iPhone). Due to the pandemic situation, many events require booking and may have limited capacity or access restrictions. However, a lot of them will be streamed live so you don’t miss a thing!
Have you ever participated in this festival? Let us know in the comments!
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Fuente: https://www.barcelona.cat/lamerce/
Imagen destacada extraída de https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/cartells/ca/2021/la-merce, propiedad del Ajuntament de Barcelona