La Merce festival of festivals
In addition to being a major public event, the Barcelona La Merce Festival is also a macro-festival consisting of various individual celebrations showcasing Barcelona's cultural richness - from the la Mercè Street art Festival to popular culture demonstrations and the Música Mercè program. In general, this is the city day, which consists of a total of some five hundred events. In addition to fireworks, there is a specific Catalan Correfoc - a series of costumed processions of dragons and demons that run through the streets, spinning firecrackers and rockets over their heads. Specifically this year it will be September 23-26. The patron saint of the city of Barcelona is the Virgin Mary of Merce, who is commemorated with a good fiesta every September 24 since the nineteenth century, at the same time they celebrate the summer solstice and prepare for the onset of the cold months.
La Merce is a chic Mediterranean holiday that unites all residents of Barcelona to enjoy music, dancing and street entertainment with giants, castellers and sardans who dance to traditional instruments such as “chirimia”, a kind of hornpipe. Moreover, this is a very ancient holiday.
Presumably, on September 24, 1218, the Blessed Virgin of Merce appeared simultaneously to King Jaime I, Saint Pedro Nolasco and Saint Raimundo de Peñafort. In this vision, the Blessed Virgin asked them to create a religious order to rescue Christian hostages in the Lands of Holly.
The next miracle happened in 1687, when Barcelona was invaded by locusts. The people of Barcelona begged the Virgin de la Merced for help. When the plague ended, it was believed that it was La Merce who destroyed the locusts, and therefore she was proclaimed the patroness of the diocese.
In 1868, Pope Pius IX declared La Merce the patron saint of the city of Barcelona. That year, on September 24, religious and folk holidays in honor of the Virgin of Mercy began to be celebrated in the city.
But it was only in 1902 that the festival gained the popularity it enjoys today. That year, an unprecedented number of parades were held, famous giants from all over Catalonia performed, the first castels competition was held and Sardana popularization was held.
La Merce celebrations, as we know them today, originated during Spain's transition to democracy, when the Barcelona City Council decided to completely turn the main city festival into a holiday in which popular culture and civics took over the streets.
