Institutions and political [...]]]> Catalonia Festivity is known as “Diada de Catalunya” and it is celebrated the 11th of Setember. With this festivity, Catalonia celebrates the the fall of Barcelona in the hands of the Bourbon troops under the Duke of Berwick during the War of Spanish Succession on September 11th, 1714, after fourteen months of siege.

Institutions and political parties traditionally made floral offerings to the monuments of Rafael Casanova (Ronda Sant Pere 51, metro Urquinaona, check Barcelona Metro map here) and Josep Moragues, both in Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia.

Since 2003, the main festivity is holded in Ciutadella Park (click here for Public transportation information in Barcelona). On this festivity, music, catalan personalities and thousands of citizens meet to celebrate and enjoy this very special date.

During the celebration, the most relevant icons: la Senyera (Catalan flag) can be usually seen everywhere and specially hanging from balconies and the Catalonian National anthem “Els Segadors” can be usually heard as it is commonly played to exalt the Catalan feeling.

First of all, we should start with a brief introduction to what Castellers are and the basic terminology. As this is a catalan tradition, all the terminology is in Catalan, although I will include the English transaction between brackets.

Basically a castell (castle) consists of a human tower with can have up to ten levels high. [...]]]>

First of all, we should start with a brief introduction to what Castellers are and the basic terminology. As this is a catalan tradition, all the terminology is in Catalan, although I will include the English transaction between brackets.

Basically a castell (castle) consists of a human tower with can have up to ten levels high. These castells (castle) are built during town festivals. At these festivals, different colles castelleres (teams) compete to build the most impressive castell. These colles castelleres dress up in traditional catalan costumes.

Barcelona’s colla castellera (team of castle builders) is Castellers de Barcelona and this year they celebrate their 40th anniversary. In order to celebrate such an important event, they have organized two diades castelleres (days where these castles are built, normally on a sunday).

First diada castellera:

Date: 20th of June
Venue: Plaça de Sant Jaume (city centre)
Time: 20h
Metro: Jaume I (L4 – yellow line)

Second diada castellera:

Date: 21st of June
Venue: Plaça de Sant Jaume (city centre)
Time: 12h
Metro: Jaume I (L4 – yellow line)

This is one of the most important catalan traditions so if you are in town on the 20th or 21st of June, I strongly recommend that you don’t miss it as it is a great event and you will definitely enjoy it.