Counterdance by the Barcelona Giants

Counterdance by the Barcelona Giants

(End of the ‘Toc a plegar’)

 When they reach La Virreina, and once they’ve bid the Barcelona public farewell in the ceremony known as the Toc a plegar, the procession will have taken them from Pl. Sant Jaume to the Palau de la Rambla, Violant and Jaume, the City Giants, will consider La Mercè 2023 to be over. But before they enter the building to rest after being out and about and dancing so much, they’ll be thinking it over a little. The thing is, it seems these two can never get enough, and they’ll be reluctant to leave the streets and be so far away from the people they’ve been celebrating with.

Because of this, the moment will arrive for the Contradansa dels Gegants de Barcelona, a fun ritual putting off the moment when it’s time to clear things away. At the doors to La Virreina, the couple will perform a farewell dance, but when it looks like they’re finishing... they start all over again. And so it goes, time and time again, until they’re fit to drop and go into the palace and close the doors behind them. ‘Els Perdigots’, a group working to regain the historical melodies of Barcelona using the tamborí drum and the flabiol pipe, will be providing the music all through the activity. A small firework display concludes the traditional Mercè afterwards.