Next: 24 Sept 2027
La Mercè
Barcelona honours its patron with sardanas in the square, dancing giants and stick dancers.
What is danced for La Mercè
The feast of Our Lady of Mercy, patron of Barcelona, falls on 24 September, and the city holds several days of festival around it. All the popular traditions of Catalonia come onto the streets. Giant figures of kings and queens, carried by a person hidden inside, turn and dance to pipes and drums. Groups perform the ball de bastons, striking sticks together in set figures. Before the cathedral and the city hall, people put their bags in the middle, join hands in a ring and dance the sardana, counting its short and long steps, to a cobla band.
The dances
Written by the Ghungroo desk with AI assistance. Background: "La Mercè" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Processional giant: Jesús Serna, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Sardana: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source