Welcome back,
Last time I shared videos from my time at the Santa Eulália festival. In this blog post, I would like to share with you all how I celebrated Carnival and Sant Medir.
Known for bright colors, dancing, and parades Carnival is a holiday to mark the beginning of Lent, the forty days before Easter. I celebrated in Sitges, which is a beach town south of Barcelona. A Carnival tradition is for everyone to dress up, not just those on floats, in fun costumes, wigs, and colors. Capturing this spirit, I wore bright pink fairy wings during the celebration. At first I was worried about wearing them, but as I walked deeper into the city I was greeted with all sorts of costumes, textures, and colors. Despite my pink wings and colorful pants, I might have been a little under dressed.
I was able to watch the whole parade up close (well, as up close as a 5’1 person can be in a massive crowd) as it looped around to my side of the barricade as well. Below you will see my view of the parade and all of the people celebrating. It is a little dark in the video, but people were on the rooftops of hotels and apartments along the parade route. One of my favorite floats was a giant flamingo.
The festivals and celebrations that I have been a part of do not end with Carnival. One night as I was walking with Kristina in Gracia, we saw a parade in the distance. Intrigued, we moved in closer. As we did we heard drumlines and saw people with umbrellas and baskets attached to sticks. Soon, people on horses were in sight. They reached into their bags and began to throw candy at the crowd! Soon, there was candy being thrown everywhere as little kids shouted, “¡Aquí!” to encourage the parade to throw candy directly into their umbrellas and baskets. I quickly joined in on the fun and stuffed the pocket of my jacket with candy.
Once I returned home, I looked up the cause for celebration as it was something we just stumbled upon and had no information about. The Sant Medir candy festival is a tradition that celebrates the miraculous healing of a local baker, who attributed his healing to Sant Medir. To show gratitude he promised to make a pilgrimage from his home in Gracia to the chapel of Sant Medir. To let everyone know of his journey he passed out sweets and banged a drum. If you want to learn more about Sant Medir and the candy parade you can click here.
Even when there are no dancers or candy being thrown, I have always found a reason to celebrate in the streets of Barcelona. I am grateful to have this opportunity and for all of those who have made it possible.
Until next time,
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