The annual festival of each town or village is held in honour of its patron saint. In general, each town organises a festa major or main festival, dedicated to its principal saint, and a festa petita or lesser festival, dedicated to a secondary saint. The festa major is an outburst of happiness: families invite all of their relatives, mothers and grandmothers lay on extra-special meals, and all kinds of events are organised: the mass, dances, sardana sessions, and so on.

These are the principal ingredients of most festes majors:

The sardana: The quintessential Catalan dance is ever-present in our festivities. Several times during the day, the cobla (the orchestra that plays the sardana) sets up in the main square and plays several pieces while people form circles and hold hands to perform the dance.

The dance: The dance starts in the evening. The band plays pasodobles, waltzes, salsa and hit songs of the moment. The dance tends to run on into the early hours.

The procession: This happy, entertaining parade marches through the streets of the town accompanied by the music of pipes and drums. In some towns the ‘giants’ come out to dance along with the figures of ‘bigheads,’ dwarves and hobbyhorses and the whole town follows them, singing and dancing.

The correfoc or fire procession: When night falls, demons and dragons run through the streets shooting fire from their mouths and tails, chasing people and doing their utmost to terrify them.

Every festa major has its own characteristics and is completed with events of all kinds, such as popular meals, card-playing competitions, children’s activities, concerts (particularly havaneres), and so on.

Calendar of festivities