A celebration with seven centuries of history
Like every year, and this is number 702, Barcelona dresses up to celebrate Corpus Christi, a growing celebration experiencing a golden moment.
The celebration of Corpus Christi has been held in Barcelona since 1320. For centuries, it was the city's main celebration and the origin of the most popular imagery and performances we can see nowadays: gegants, capgrossos, bestiari, diables, castells, balls de bastons, and so on.
For this reason, the Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Cathedral and the Federació d’Entitats de Cultura Popular i Tradicional de la Barcelona Vella decided, some time ago, to recover one of the city's oldest and most traditional festivals, based on two of the most popular and participatory aspects of this cycle of celebrations: l'ou com balla and the secular procession.
Though there will be previous activities, starting on Saturday, 11 June, the main part of the festival will take place from Corpus Christi Day, Thursday, 16 June, to Corpus Christi Sunday, on 19 June. You can see the programme at this link.
After two years of pandemic, the Corpus Christi festival returns to the courtyards and gardens with a never before seen force: around 50 activities will be scattered over a large part of the city, making it a very special event for strolling around and rediscovering a whole host of corners.
Among the highlights of the 2022 edition, we can find the exhibition Corpus. 700 anys de festa a Catalunya, which will be held in the chapel of Santa Agata at the Museu d'Història (MUHBA), the recovery of the panoli as a traditional delicacy, the complete revival of the Corpus Vigil, the renewal of the route and format of the procession, the recovery of the Corpus fans and the declaration of the Corpus Christi of Barcelona as a Heritage Festival of National Interest.
The event will be completed with exhibitions, talks, parades, online videos, pyrotechnics, organ concerts and open days on the 16th at the Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat – Casa de l’Ardiaca, the Ateneu Barcelonès, the Casa dels Entremesos, the Cathedral, the Museu Frederic Marès and the Monestir de Pedralbes.
This year, there will be around 20 ous com balla — the traditional ones in the city centre gathered in a Route, and others that are being used for the first time, which is the case for the ones in the Seminari, the Carrer de la Llibertat and Parc de Sant Martí — and a similar number of catifes florals that are an explosion of colours and fragrances. And the fact is that "the festival of festivals", as some dub it, is made for the senses: taste, with the panoli and the cherries; sight, with the delicate image of the egg dancing on the fountain; hearing, with the ringing bells and the melody of the gralles and fabioles that accompany the entremesos; and smell, with the scent of broom and freshly harvested flowers.
All this shows that the festival is more alive than ever. So get out on the streets and enjoy all the activities on the programme, which are plentiful and for all tastes!