La Merce' 2017

Yes... enjoy with moderation, LOL!

Seriously now, not really that many "tips" to give, if anything:

• Firstly... it's not a party, it's a festival... and a damn good one! I'm biased here, I know :)
• La Mercè is mostly about heritage and culture of our nation, Catalonia, also is about arts -exhibitions, music, theatre, circus, etc. and also an open-doors to many interesting buildings that otherwise are closed to the public. Music has a life of its own and has a sort of festival inside La Mercè, called BAM (Barcelona Acció Musical) with a large number of concerts and performances.
• The festival is dedicated to one of the patronesses of the city, Virgin of La Mercè (Mercè is Catalan, the local language, for Mercedes in other languages) and it has been celebrated since 1902. Get acquainted HERE with its history if you like.
• The festival invites every year a different city to participate, which brings some samples of their cultural scene. Last year (2016) was Paris (France), this year is Reykjavik (Iceland)
• Crowds: for certain activities, they'll be sizable, but that's what festivals are all about, right?. Watch out for pickpockets!
• Fireworks: the pyro-musical in the last night is really something. It can be seen from different parts of the city, but of course, being a pyro-musical, you want to be on-site to hear the music! It's hosted at Avinguda Maria Cristina, near the Magic Fountain in Montjuïc -which is closed that day to visitors. Last year, over 110,000 attended. No tickets, just turn up... at least a couple of hours before it starts, or you won't be able to get in. Access to the avenue is closed when attendance reaches a limit determined by the City Hall. THIS is last year.
• You will not be able to see everything... there are 600+ activities in those FOUR days (Sept. 22-25th 2017). Pick your venues! The program is published around mid-September HERE. Every activity is FREE.
• The activities are not hosted in a single site, nor even a single area but across different parts and buildings of the city.
• As I've mentioned in the past, despite La Mercè is the most important festival during the year and is attended by over 2 million visitors from all over the world, this city -much like other big cities- continues to function normally and life goes on (shops, businesses, museums, restaurants, offices, etc) during these days. Only at certain moments and in certain streets/squares you might have some temporary disruptions, which end when the activity has finished. This is particularly true in the neighbourhoods in the district of Ciutat Vella (the Old City).
• Among the heritage activities, look out for castellers, also ball de bastons, and giants and big heads, and sardanes, and obviously the most spectacular, correfocs... and a few more. These are some of the activities of the Festa Major (or Major Festival), a display of heritage celebrated in all cities and towns across Catalonia in different moments of the year. Barcelona has two, the winter festival -Santa Eulàlia- and the summer festival -La Mercè.

... this was the program for 2015... so you can have an idea and start making your bucket list.

A NOTE ABOUT CORREFOCS

Yes, I know the picture I posted re:correfocs above look just like a bunch of hooligans causing trouble, LOL!.... but it's not, obviously. I also know this activity looks dangerous... but it's not either. Fire has been an intrinsic part of Mediterranean cultures since the dawn of time. The cult to fire has been embedded into our heritage and passed along generations. These days, it is part of many festivities along the year, be here in Catalonia, be in Italy, or in Greece, to name a few. Among other, the correfoc (Catalan, the local language, for 'fire-run') is one of those traditions around the element of fire.

The origins of Correfoc can be found in the evolution of the Ball de Diables (Devils' Dance), originally performed in early Christian festivities here in Catalonia to represent the struggle between Good and Evil. The earliest documented Ball de Diables was played for the wedding of Petronilla of Aragon and Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, in 1150 AD. It seems that playing the evil part was more fun and spectacular, so it got fleshed out over time until it became its own spectacle. Quoting Hitchcock... "The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture", so true, right?

The sights, the noise, the smell, the adrenaline too.... all are basic components of the correfoc. As said, it might look dangerous at first sight, but it's not as chaotic as one might think. On the contrary, the correfocs have been "perfected" -so to speak- along many decades of celebrations starting by the firecrackers being used, the special cotton clothing that the diables wear, their training and the constant supervision of the caps de colla (team leaders), making this a fun and saf(ish) activity. From the literally hundreds of correfocs celebrated across Catalonia during the year, very few accidents occur... and no casualties!

Probably your major concern is not to get too close to them if you don't want your clothes and hair ruined by the sparks. Be prudent, like me, and avoid the front row... it's still impressive from behind too, trust me, LOL! There are two types of correfocs, the KIDS' correfocs and the ADULTS', and the most spectacular are obviously the ones performed by the latter.

In any case, this is not an activity for the faint hearted!

Thank you Enric. GREAT advice for the correfocs especially !! haha. We'll stay back a bit.

... a "live" sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJP8JoVwEII -not necessarily the most aesthetic video, but enough to "grasp it"

Should you be more "manly" than me, LOL!, and should you really wish to experience the thrill, note the abundance of straw hats worn by the members of the public who dare to mix and mingle with the diables. These are to protect your hair. You can purchase cheap ones in one of the numerous dollar shops across the city -easy to spot, always run by Chinese residents. Also, wear a (important!) cotton t-shirt/shirt that you're not too fond of. Note the members of the colla de diables, the ones actually handling the fire, are wearing a sort of garment (jacket and trousers) made with sackcloth, which is kind of fireproof.

I was there for the festival in 2006 and it was fantastic. Your hotel will probably have a list of activities with dates and times they will occur, so pick one up and carry with you. The Castellers (human towers) were great to watch. That occurred in Plaza Jaume and it is literally wall to wall people. Go to the rest room before heading to the plaza since it is very difficult to move around. If going there, either leave your valuables in the safe at you hotel or in a backpack/purse in front of you. Since it is very crowded during the festival be especially vigilant for pick-pockets. Carrefoc was nice as was the procession of the giants (I'm not certain what it's really called.) Thoroughly enjoy yourself and take advantage of the opportunity you have been afforded.