Gegants i capgrossos

Another weekend, another festival.

This one is for the patron saint of Barcelona, the Virgin of La Mercè
and it is the biggest of the festivals (festa mejor).
It is several days long, always including 24 September.
All around the city were events including traditional cultural events,
music, visual arts, and even a bicycle marching band.

We opted for the traditional events, including the giants and big heads.

It was crowded and only became more so.  We could see that there were sets of puppets with different themes, representing different historical events.  We asked a local about them and she said even though she can recognize most of them, she does not know all of them.

We could recognize that these were the Gaudi set.

The back side

Sorry about the quality of the picture.  Check out better images on this video.

Each set (or maybe only some sets) do a little dance together,

accompanied by live music.
Each set of dancers has its own set of musicians.

I don't know the last time I was in a crowd so large.  With all the selfie sticks and kids on shoulders it was hard to see. Trying to get out was challenging, but it was definitely the right decision to leave.

It was a pleasant surprise to learn that all day long the giants and big heads parade around town,
along with their musicians.  They stop and perform at random (it seemed).
This group passed by our lunch stop and performed about a block away.

Then we ran into this group a bit later
(musicians on the left).

photo credit to the Baileys
Sant Cugat has its own giants, but I have seen them only in the museum.

Part two to follow.