Festa major de Sants will kick off in Barcelona on August 24th

On August 24, the main street festival, Festa major de Sants, which is called Festas de Sants in Catalan, will kick off in Barcelona’s Sants neighborhood. Like the famous Festa Major de Gracia, it is a competition to decorate streets and squares. The festivals follow each other and the two neighborhoods have long been in competition with each other.

Festa major de Sants originated in the mid-19th century, when Sants was a separate village. The festivities begin on the day of St. Bartholomew, considered its patron saint, and conclude on September 1. 

The main event of the festival is a competition for the best decoration of a street or square. The decorations were put up a week ago so that the audience could evaluate them and make a choice. The results will be announced on Monday, August 26. The program of the holiday includes excursions to the decorated streets. But you can see them for yourself using the map created by irbarcelona.org:

The Festa major de Sants program can be found at this link. The organizers have planned more than 70 street concerts, as well as theatrical performances, competitions and entertainment programs for children, sports competitions, excursions, exhibitions, parades of giants and fireworks.

Traditionally, Festa major de Sants is not without performances of castellers who build huge human towers. Also don’t miss the «fire runs» — correfocs. Their participants put on devil costumes and fix fireworks on their pitchforks. Dancing to the sound of drums, they launch rockets among the crowd of spectators.

You can also read about a similar tradition in our article: Las Fallas — the most fiery and spectacular festival in Spain.  

For many years, the Sants District Assembly has been organizing an alternative Festa major in the Parque de la Espanya Industrial (Industrial Park of Spain). It coincides with the official festival and its events focus on various social issues.

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Photo by Ajuntament Barcelona from flickr.com