Traditions in Barcelona, Spain

Dec. 23, 2010 - PRLog -- At many festivals you are likely to see circles of people dancing the Sardana. The Sardana is a typical Catalonian dance and is different from the other Spanish dances. Originally the Sardana is from Greece. Some people say that the dance was introduced during the period of Greek trading posts around Barcelona. Others say that the Sadana was not practices in Catalonia until the 15th centry, when Sardinia was occupied by the Catalans. Independent of its origina, nowadays it's a traditional Catalonian dance. Sardana dances link hands with raised arms, forming a circle which grows bigger as more people join in. After a certain time the circle is getting too large and will be split in multiple smaller ones. It's a disciplined dance with exact movements and timing provided by a leader in each circle. Do not join the Sardana, because it's a difficult dance and one wrong move can break the complete circle.

Castellers, who creates the highest tower?
Every city in Catalonia celebrates its Grand Festival once a year. The streets are than full of people and many of them wear traditional costumes of ancient origin. A typical action people perform on the street is called Casteller. This is a human tower. The idea is to build a tower by standing on each others shoulders as high as possible.
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The great festivals of Barcelona
Mostly the origin of the festivals in Barcelona are religious as the Catholicism recovered all the pagan and accepted them. On April the 23rd everyone in Catalonia celebrates the day of the book (San Jordi). The official public holidays in Barcelona you can find on the website of the government of Barcelona, but I'd like to mention some special festivals.

   * End of Februari: The moment of Carnivals in Barcelona. On February the 14th it's Valentines Day and on March the 3rd is the San Medir festival in Grácia.
   * April 23rd: Saint George festival, in Spanish San Jordi. This festival is also known as the rose and book festival.
   * Begin of June: A modern festival calles Sonar is held. It's a party of 4 days long with famous DJ's.
   * June 24th: The Eve of San Joan (Saint John). This festival is celebrated both in private houses and in public places. On the beach of Barcelona you'll find fireworks as well as bonfires.
   * August 15th: The festival of Assumption in the district of Grácia.
   * September 24th: The festival of La Merce, the patron saint of Barcelona. During this festival there are typical dances, like the Sardanas, parades through the streets, sport events and religious celebrations.

The background of Catalonia
The ancient Greeks colonised Catalonia and their first settlement was in the Rosas area. Later the Romans came and Catalonia became part of the Roman empire. Catalonia then came under Visigothic rule for 4 centuries after Rome's collapse. In the 8th century it came under Moorish al-Andalus control, after the defeat of Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi's troops in 732. In the 8th century the troops of Charlemagne wrested pars of Catalonia from the Muslims. In the Middle Ages the Catalonian culture was developed. Catalonia consisted of several Kingdoms during this period. In 987 Barcelona became under the Frankish rule. When the count of Barcelona married the Queen of Aragon in 1137, the Country of Barcelona merged with the Kingdom of Aragon. Under Jaume I the Conqueror the Catalans sought to drive the Moors out of the Mediterranean completely. During his reign (1213-1276), Catalonia conquered Mallorca, Ibiza and Valencia. Over the next century Mediterranean expansion continued with the conquest of Sicily, Sardinia and Southern Greece. Just when Catalonia's Golden Age was at its height, disaster struck the House of Barcelona. In 1410, Martí the Humane died and Fernando de Antequera was elected King of the Catalan-Aragonese Confederation. Spaniards claim that the reign of the Catholic Kings marks the beginning of Spain as a nation. During the reign of Felipe IV, the monarch came under the influence of the autocratic Count-Duke Olicvares, who when war broke out with France in 1635, demanded a disproportionate contribution of money and men. The Spanish Succession war started in 1705. To the English and Dutch a united Austria and Spain was unpleasant a prospect as a French-Spanish axis, so they pulled out of the alliance leaving Catalonia alone to dace 200,000 Franco-Spanish troops. On September the 11th 1714 Barcelona finally fell.

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