We watched a projection called Awakening the Dragon, at the Casa Batlló, one of Antoni Gaudí’s bests known architectural works, the night before the end of the festival.

It does look like a big lizard is crawling around the roof. The roof line, altered by Gaudi, is an undulating form that was said to be reminiscent of a dragon. The park Gaudi designed, Parc Guell, has a fountain with a centerpiece of a huge tile-spangled iguana (ish) animal. Hence the images in this show.

The structure, the Casa Batllo, is among the showiest of Gaudi’s works, with undulating balconies that are depicted in one video as frog mouths. The group that runs this house has the strongest social media presence of all Gaudi’s work in Barcelona, including these periodic projection nights, photo contests and family activity days. It may be a case of survival of the media-savvy.

We saw a lively musical group Sabor de Gracia, on Placa Catalunya on Wednesday evening on our way home from Casa Batllo.         They’re on Apple music.)

The next day at noon we watched the parade of ALL the city’s giants. Part of the time we were sitting in a cafe while we watched, an almost perfect venue. The giants ranged from highly realistic figures to fanciful Sun and Moon figures. Every stereotype you can imagine is presented. (If you dance down the street, then it’s not a bad stereotype, it’s just a…….big puppet!).

There were kings and queens

High society

(Is that the Gatsbys?)

(Is that Putin?)

Is that a friend of Putin? (or was it Berlusconi’s friend?)

Cafe society

Local celebrities (I guess),

Traditional folk

and folk dances,

Familiar birds

Unconventional birds…

And a lot of others.

The final element was the fireworks, music and colored fountains. It was the biggest fireworks display and the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen, estimated at 108,000, packed across a large plaza and all the adjacent streets in front of the Palacio Nacional (the National Museum of the Art of Catalonia). After it was over, we were surprised at how well-organized the subway was, with personnel letting people into the station in waves, then holding the crowd until the station was clear and continuing. Trains arrived every 2-3 minutes. We were home in less time than it took to get from our viewing spot to the subway, shuffling along with the crowd. Below is the youtube video. There are others more professionally done, but this one gives you a sense of the fireworks, searchlights, tubes shooting flames, smoke, and the fountain changing colors.

And that, was the end of the festival. What a week! The city’s patroness should be well satisfied for the coming year.

 

Barcelonans are fearless. They make human towers up to eight people high:

Keep in mind that the people you see at the bottom of this photo are the second tier. They are all standing on people underneath.

 

Also note the size of the child climbing to the eighth level–the one wearing the helmet…

Barcelonans also take small children to the Correfoc, the Fire Run, where they are likely to be scared out of their wits.

It is night. There is a big portal covered with horns, or flames.

It opens to admit so many drumming groups that the area becomes a single wall of deafening sound. Then the lights change:

This is followed by a series of large fireworks that are exploded over everyone’s heads. You’re supposed to know to bring something to cover your head from the sparks and floating bits of carbonized paper. The smoke can’t be helped.

It was a wonderful display–I’ve probably never been so close to fireworks. Since we were about 20 people deep around the plaza at that point, it’s probably a good thing no one caught on fire from the falling debris.

Next, the demons emerge and are set alight. They spit sparks and blow off fireworks at the crowd. It looks like the neighborhood is igniting. These burn out about every 3 minutes and have to be charged again by a guy with a box of fireworks who wheels along after each demon… This is a very slow parade but very showy. The entire route is three blocks.

This is an exploding mosquito with glowing red eyes.

Groups of people dressed as devils take turns lighting their super-giant sized sparkler holders and then twirl them as they move down the street. The sparks cover everyone.

Here they are lighting up.

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s where I’m glad I’m not right along the route.

Tell me that doesn’t look like the building going up in flames.

There is never a tranquil moment. It’s all out noise, drums, sparklers crackling, explosions and chanting. Groups take turns to enter through the gates, light up, and scare everyone along the parade route. Just another fun evening in Barcelona during a religious festival.

Group members wear horned capes so you can see their horns and they won’t burn their hair.

(They fear nothing.)

From the title, you get the idea. La Mercé is the annual festival of Our Lady of Mercy, one of the patronesses of Barcelona. It spans a week, this year Sept. 18-24 and there are more events than one person could get to. We went to see the giants and the giant heads before they emerged. They don’t march in a parade, they dance down the street.

The attendants are “Big Heads”

Music is provided courtesy of the Middle Ages, a chorus of oboes, bagpipes, and other loud and squealing things.

Maybe that’s why she carries a pig. It was part of the band!

This was the first parade. The next parade was monsters and devils. We saw some of them in advance:

They looked more threatening at night in the street:

Several of the dragons, including the angry dolphin, squirted water on the crowd.

There was a drum group with almost every dragon, a group of 10-16 people, more than half of them women. They made a wall of sound and danced at the same time, some groups more choreographed than others. Impressive.