The Gràcia neighbourhood festival

As it does every 15 August, the Gràcia neighbourhood puts on its party clothes. It’s the most eagerly awaited celebration for the graciencs, as Gràcia locals are called, and one they’re very proud of: the Festa Major de Gràcia. It goes back to the 1920s, when the festivities revolved around a band playing traditional dances such as the ball d’en Serrallonga.

The festival gets going with an opening speech that kicks off each year’s celebrations. Then Gràcia’s colles (local festival groups) surprise us with a show of giants, trabucaires (blunderbuss firers), castellers (human tower builders) and diables (fire-running devils), welcoming the fun that will fill the streets until 22 August.

The streets and squares are decorated in astonishing ways that hark back to the neighbourhood’s village roots: in a city, the kind of coordination, collaboration and help between neighbours needed to create these scenes seems impossible nowadays. The decorations are usually made from recycled materials, and the neighbours spend all year collecting them.

Overnight, as if by magic, other streets appear: streets full of colours and shapes ready to make even the grumpiest passer-by smile. The ones who enjoy it most are the children, who still have all the imagination we once had: a street full of white tassels makes a little girl say ‘Mira mamá, está nevando’ (‘Look, Mum, it’s snowing’), a little boy touches things with a look of surprise, another snaps photos at every step (almost like me), and a baby stares wide-eyed at the giant mobile that has become its sky. To please another of the senses, music follows you along the streets, sometimes sweetly, sometimes stridently, so you can also see that not every resident enjoys the festival: in more than one street you’ll spot the plea ‘Volem dormir’ (‘We want to sleep’).

For a week there are concerts, cercaviles (street parades), dances, dominoes competitions and all sorts of events that fill the narrow streets of this neighbourhood with all kinds of people, from everywhere and of every age, ready to have a whale of a time all week long.

For more information, click here. And for more photos, here.

Below is the route we recommend (2010) for seeing the street decorations. It takes an hour and a half at a leisurely pace.

View the route of Gràcia’s decorated streets in a larger map