It’s raining sweets on the streets of Gràcia – the Sant Medir Festival

Families, Fiestas on February 24, 2012 3:00 pm

If you’re visiting Barcelona with kids, have a sweet tooth, or just want to experience a genuine and quirky tradition, we have the perfect event for you.

Called the Sant Medir Dolça Festa, this ‘sweet festival’ takes places in the neighbourhood of Gràcia every 3 March. It’s full of local colour and is a great way to experience Gràcia’s thriving sense of community.

Going strong since 1830

What is nowadays a mounted cavalcade of music, costume, and tonnes of sweets started off with fairly humble origins. Legend has it that the owner of a local bakery on Gran de Gràcia street fell sick. In dire need of a miracle, the baker invoked the help of Sant Medir, and promised to visit the saint’s shrine in the Collserola Mountains if he was cured. When the baker later regained his health he indeed set off on his first pilgrimage, on horseback, to the Collserola shrine.

The next year he was joined by his family, and over the years more and more people took part until the procession’s popularity spread throughout Gràcia and beyond.

Bring a brolly!

You’ll notice that people taking part are organised into several different groups or ‘collas’ – representatives of the local clubs that organise the event. The hundreds of revellers then parade around the barrio of Gràcia on horseback and atop floats, liberally chucking sweets at bystanders all the way (as the baker did on his original journey). Follow the locals’ lead and bring an upturned umbrella to catch as much loot as possible!

The main parade begins at around 8pm, at the intersection of Gran de Gràcia and Carrer de Maurizio Serrahima, and finishes up at Jardinets de Gràcia with a fireworks display.

Unlike some events in Barcelona, this festival isn’t well known outside of the city, and it’s still very much a community-based celebration like the ones in smaller Catalan towns. So if you want to experience an authentic festival with handfuls of free sweets up for grabs, make your way to the streets of Gràcia on 3 March.

Visit our Sant Medir Flickr page for more photos

Have you been to the festival before? What did you think of the evening? How many sweets did you catch?

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