Festa Major de Sants

by Miriam | Events

Immediately after the Gràcia Festa Major ends, the Sants one begins; that is, it takes over the neighbourhood for the last week in August.

Sants, a former village in the outskirts of Barcelona, one may fall in love with by living there, or by enjoying an afternoon on “the longest shopping street in the world” (Carretera –“road”- de Sants, and not Carrer de Sants, reminding us of its past) or by accidentally running into its annual Festa Major, in honour of Saint Bartomeu.

Sants has maintained its character and its village atmosphere to a large extent, even though it homes Barcelona’s main train station. Carrer de Sants and Passeig de Sant Antoni (you reach them very easily by exiting Sants Station towards Plaça Joan Peiró) are surrounded by a net of narrow streets, which still boast some XVIII and XIX century buildings that one can promptly imagine with their ceramic floors, tall ceilings and arched wooden beams.

The two main arteries can be bustling with life during the day, but as soon as one turns down any of the adjacent streets, the shadow of the trees and the slow pace of elderly people who have been born and have lived there all their lives renders and immediate sense of calm and ease. Corner shops, as you may imagine, do well in this area…

But Sants is also a very active community; there are lots of associations, to fit various interests, and the youngsters are very politically involved (tending towards an anarco-Catalan ideology that can be traced back to the Second Republic, which preceded the Civil War, and that generates the occasional problem every now and then).

All this energy seems to converge to create a unique Festa Major. You will find pyrotechnic exhibitions and parades, human castles (“castellers”), circus days and even, if the 2008 trend continues, an Alternative Festa Major, organized by the younger members of the community and backed by the official volunteer Committee, to include, as well as the now usual traditional, flamenco-fusion and swing nights, independent music.

As in Gràcia, during the Festa Major the streets in Sants (Alcolea de Baix, Alcolea de Dalt, Canalejas, pl. de la Farga, Finlàndia, Guadiana, Robrenyo, Rosés, Sagunt, Santa Cecília, Valladolid i Vallespir) dress up for the occasion and there is a contest to decide which is the best decoration on display.
But also in this case, the main attraction is to just wander around and find whatever suits you best. There will be different activities going on in the various streets and squares – all closed to traffic for the event -, the restaurants will have tables out on the pavement and food and drink counters will appear in every corner.

There is no saying what you may find yourself doing: line-dancing, which I had never done before, was certainly not in my agenda the last time I visited the Sants Festa Major!

You can download the currently scheduled activities – it looks like the authorities have decided to absorb the alternative fair, by including an independent music night. In 2009, the Festa Major takes place between 22nd and 29th August.