Here's a list with the best and most well-known festivals in and around Barcelona. They're listed in chronological order so it's easy to select a suiting festival for the period you're staying in Barcelona. And don't forget that the city of Barcelona during Spring and Summer is turning into a real 'Fiesta city'.

Carnaval in Sitges

Carnival in Sitges is an overwhelming and colorful happening. During this event, the normally quiet town shows a whole different face. Carnival, that begins on the 3rd of March and lasts until the 9th of March, fills the streets with dressed party people and painted faces. Despite the city has a small number of 26.000 permanent inhabitants, Sitges can accommodate over 300.000 people on the busiest days. The city is known for its big tolerance against people out of all layers of society and is a famous gay-destination. Sitges is internationally more and more known for its ‘against-cultural’ image, something that even dictator Franco during his life couldn’t suppress. There are little places where people can party better than here, and there are little better moments to do that than during Carnival. The festivities are well prepared and include a great variety of different activities. Above all this city has two faces: one of a tolerant, intellectual and artistic community and one of a paradise for party people. After Lent mainly the second face shows: around 40 floats will be driving the streets filled with dancing, happy people. All under a sky lightened by all the carnival fireworks.

Carnival begins on ‘Jueves Lardero’, fat Thursday, and lasts for a week. The most exciting festivities will take place at Sunday and Thuesday. On these days the locals parade the streets with a lot of style. About 3000 people are participating the parade, some in dazzling costumes of feathers, others as stylish drag-queens. Carnaval in Sitges is more than just a party, it’s an opportunity to completely let yourself go. For more information take a look at Sitges own site.

Semana Santa: Spain’s Holy Week

Semana Santa means: ‘Holy Week’, and begins on Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos). It lasts until Monday, also called Easter Monday. The Semana Santa is also the implemented name for the Good Week, the week before Easter, that is being celebrated outrageously. On Palm Sunday godfathers traditionally give their godchildren palm leaves, often decorated with all kinds of sweets. On Palm Sunday people also get a Mona de Pescua, a kind of pie made of chocolate that is decorated with all kinds of figures and eggs. During Easter you can buy these  Mona’s everywhere around the city. Generally with Easter people give each other a little present, mainly chocolate.

Like the Christian tradition declares, there may not be eaten meat on the Friday. In Barcelona this tradition is being transformed to another pleasure for the mouth, that is: delicious bacalao, prepared in different ways, among which: bacalao with chickpeas, bacalao with potatoes, salted bacalao and so on. Besides these dishes you will also find fritters, French toast, honey beignets and Easter bread.

Processions

In Catalonia, just like in the rest of the country, they celebrate these holidays with ceremonies and processions  given that Spain is a country with a long Catholic tradition. They show the suffering of Christ and Maria in the streets. The most spectacular ones are to find in Andalusia, especially Sevilla. Typical are the big statues that are being carried around on big gilded platforms (paso’s). Normally every procession has a paso with a portrait of the suffering of Christ and one with the sad Maria. In Barcelona it isn’t that effusive as in Sevilla but a lot of festivities are also being celebrated here.

Distinctive to other parts in Spain is the procession of ‘the Virgin of the Sorrows’, that is being organized without a priest. This weird procession looks like the one in Sevilla and came into existence in 1977 in the quarter of l’Hospitalet. During the years the procession became a lot better but the essence is still unchanged.

During the Easter weekend it is hard to find any shops or museums that are open. Shops and museums are normally closed on Good Friday, Palm Sunday and Easter Monday, except for the shopping mall of Maremagnum in the harbor. For more information about processions and the agenda take a look at this site.

La Diada de Sant Jordi

La Diada de Sant Jordi means: ‘the day of St. George’. The event takes place every year on the 23rd of April and can be compared with Valentines-day. The festival is also known as ‘El Dia de la Rosa’, (the day of the rose).

According to tradition, men give roses to women, and women give books to men, the roses stand for love and the books stand for eternity. The tradition dates back to the Middle-ages. At that time roses were handed out to women that on this day attended a mass in the chapel of Sant Jordi in the Palau of the Generalitat of Catalonia. Since last century  it is customary for men and women to give each other books. The roses that still been given are decorated with a small Catalan flag, a senyera and an ear of corn. The red color of the rose symbolizes, next to love, passion as well. The senyera reflects the sub colony of Catalonia in respect of Sant Jordi and the ear of corn represents the fertility. Nowadays the roses are sold in all kinds of colors, forms and sizes.

Also typical for this day is the mass selling of books, sometimes signed by authors in bookstores or improvised stands spread over the Ramblas, Passeig de Gràcia and Plaza Catalunya. Above all there are being organized a lot of activities in libraries (where you can listen to literary speeches) and museums, all have to do with literature of course.

On Plaza Sant Just you can witness shows and live music. Palau de la Generalitat is opened and shops and department stores are decorated completely.

Grec Festival de Barcelona

The Grec Festival in Barcelona is one of the most important festivals of the year, with theatre, dance, music, circus and other stage performances. This festival starts at the 13th of June and ends at the 2nd of August. It has a long history and this year, 2011, it celebrates its 35th edition. During the years Grec became not only the most conspicuous cultural summer attraction in Barcelona, but also an important reference on the European festival calendar.

The festivals name is derived from the most important location where the opening also takes place: the Teatre Grec, or Greek Theatre on Montjuïc, an open-air theatre build for the World Fair of 1929. Stimulated by the Barcelona City Council, the Grec Festival brings a lot of private impresarios and promoters that produce and organize a lot of shows in the festivals program. The festival is financed by public funds and revenue of sponsors and ticket sale.

With a big history heading back 35 years, the Grec Festival is grown to a leading producer of shows in Catalonia. Grec has a double mission: stimulate the local production and presenting these excellent works of Catalan artists and companies, and open a window to the world by presenting a lot of interesting works from all over the world. Moreover, nowadays the festival is a leading showcase for exhibitions produced abroad. Besides this, Grec Festival works together with the Festival of Avignon, the Athene-Epidaurus Festival, the Istanbul International Theatre Festival and other members of the Kadmos network since 2009. Kadmos was established to bring these production and project together to exchange experience and share political and social reflections about the whole region that is home for all four of the festivals; the Mediterranean. For the most recent information about the program and ticket prices watch the official site of Grec.

The Festival of Sant Joan: celebrating the solstice

Meeting each other in the streets, music, colorful lamps, nice food, fireworks and so on. In the night of the 23rd  to the 24th of June the festival of Sant Joan is being celebrated, also known as “the night of fire”. On this immemorial festival, which is probably the biggest in Barcelona, people used to celebrate the solstice and ‘give power’ to the sun that from that moment on was getting ‘weaker’, given that the days are getting shorter again.

The solstice is being celebrated all over the world in a more or less way. In Spain, every region has its own way of celebrating it. Typical for Catalonia and its areas is making bonfires, for example burning old furniture and throwing fireworks. There are concerts, performances and neighbor parties outside. On the beaches of Barcelona there are gathering hundreds of thousands young Barcelonese and people from all over the world to celebrate the “shortest night of the year”. With dj’s playing music at the Chiringuito-Bars till the early morning you can say the San Joan isn’t a night to get your hours of sleep.

A typical Catalan dish on Sant Joan is the ‘coca’, a kind of pizza filled with cream and decorated with preserved fruit. And of course the cava is being poured richly.

Fiesta Mayor de Gràcia

The different districts and areas of Barcelona almost all celebrate their ‘Fiesta Mayor’ during the year. That means a week full of partying, concerts, special exhibitions and activities for young and old. Like every year the biggest, most famous and striking one in Catalonia is: the Fiesta Mayor de Gràcia.

An unbelievable week of exuberant celebrating with a lot of fireworks. It is like a carnival party in whole Gràcia where thousands of people live, and not only the neighbors, but also tourists, foreigners and people from other Spanish cities are coming to party. When looking at the decorated streets of the quarter, it is just extraordinary original and fairytale like. That is why this is also been seen as  the highlight of the festival. Months before the festivities begin, the residents of Gràcia start with decorating their homes and streets. Morality of the festival is therefore: ‘stimulating the good understanding in the quarter and keep it that way’.

The festival will begin at the balcony of the city Gràcia, inaugurated by Isma Prados on Moday the 15th of August, and lasts until Sunday the 21th of August. The Gràcia festival offers, as already said, a week full of exhibitions, activities for children, workshops, sport, parades, performances by diverse artists, dance and theatre. Especially in streets of the areas Plaza del Sol and the Plaza Ruis i Taulet there are jazz, rock and classic music concerts. Also, every year the residents are showing off with their excellent cuisine and traditional drinks by cooking and organizing tastings. Every year thousands of peoples are wandering the narrow streets of the area. They drink, dance and enjoy the atmosphere, it is the most colorful celebration of the city. When you’re visiting Barcelona during August be sure to join the party. For more information about the festival go to the official site of Gràcia.

Diada Nacional: the national holiday of Catalonia

On the 11th of September it is Diada Nacional de Catalunya, also known as Diada de l’Onze de Setembre. On the Diada the people commemorate that the city of Barcelona felt in the hands of the troups of Bourbon during the Spanish succession war in 1714. This war broke loose when the two mightiest European royal houses, the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons, both wanted to claim the Spanish throne. Barcelona supported the Hapsburgs and had England as her ally. However, the Bourbons won, the troups of Bourbon king Filips V besieged the city for fourteen months and the city felt eventually on the 11th of September in 1714. All Catalan privileges were revoked, the universities were closed down and the Catalan languages was being prohibited.

During the Diada in Barcelona flowers are being placed, just like they do in the rest of the region. This happens at the monument of Rafael Casanova done by the politic parties and social organizations. Parties and groups that are striving after the independence of Catalonia do the same at the Fossar de les Moreres, near the church of Santa María del Mar. This is the place were a lot of the perished defenders of the city during the besieging of 1714 are buried.

During the national anniversary a lot of Catalans are hanging a flag at their balconies. The official Catalan flag is yellow with four red stripes. Those who want Catalan independency are using a flag with a red star at the side or with a blue triangle at the side with a white star in it. On different places there are being organized demonstrations and concerts. Here they also sing the Catalonian hymn, Els Segadors (the Song of the Mowers). Since 2003 the most important ceremony of the Diada is taking place in the Parc de la Ciutadella, organized by the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan government).

The La Mercè Festival

In 1871 the city hall of Barcelona organized a festival in honor of the patron saint of the city, la Mare de Déu de la Mercè Vendrell, on September 24th. In 1902 this festivity got a new boost due to parades with the famous Catalan ‘gegants’ or ‘giants’, a first competition with ‘castellers’ or ‘human castels’ and demonstrations of the Catalan dance the ‘Sardana’.

Since that time the festival is grown spectacularly and is attracting hundreds thousands of tourists to the streets, squares and halls of Barcelona  every year. Nowadays the party celebrated at La Mercè includes more than 500 activities, something for everyone’s taste. In fact, the festivities are a gathering of various festivals like:

- Barcelona Acció Musical (BAM); a festival with innovative music
- Barcelona Arts de Carrer; a festival with street theatre and musicians
- La Fiesta de la Tradició; castellers, giants, parades,…
- La Fiesta del Foc: all kinds of activities with fire as a theme

The biggest crowd pullers of the festival are without any doubt the ‘Cursa de la Mercè’, a 10 km fun run throughout the city and the Piromusical, a gigantic firework spectacle at the fountains of Montjuïc. Moreover the Correfoc is an absolute highlight. This is a tradition at many Catalan festivals, it is a parade with ‘diablos’ or ‘devils’; people that are walking around dressed up throwing fireworks, and ‘dragones’ or ‘dragons’, carts in the form of monsters and beasts spitting fire and flames.

Actually at La Mercè there are two Correfocs; one in the early evening for the children (with limited fireworks) and one at night for the adults. If you want to participate in this event it is necessary to wear custom clothing, that is to say: fire-proof clothing, a cap or had, hand-shoes  and glasses that protect you against the splashing fire. During the Correfoc ten thousands of spectators are gathering in and around the Via Laietana in the centre of the city.

This year most of the activities of La Mercè will take place between Thursday the 22nd of September until Sunday the 25th of September. The Cursa de la Mercè is going to be on Sunday the 19th of September. All information about the complete agenda and activities can be found on the site of La Mercè.