February is time for Santa Eulalia celebrations in Barcelona together with the Festival of light. That is a perfect match to celebrate Barcelona winter festivals.
The city farewells Carnival but keeps having fun with February celebrations starting on Wednesday 10th of February when Barcelona winter festival begins. A celebration that combines culture and tradition during the day and the Festival of Light during the night.
Once again, Santa Eulalia celebrations, in honour of the Co-Patroness of Barcelona, and the Festival of Light coincide in Barcelona. This time dates are: from 11th February until 14th February. There will be all ages activities.
The celebration will begin the night of Thursday 11th with a terrific musical performance; a set of lit pendulums and lasers instead of traditional video mapping.
Three entire days of traditional events such as parades of “giants and big-heads”, demons and dragons, “sardanes“ (traditional Catalan dance), “castellers” (human towers) and three nights when light will magically reach representative buildings. During all weekend the doors of museums and historic buildings are open.
Santa Eulalia 2016
Thursday 11th February: Santa Eulàlia celebrations begin with ‘Dansem la Llum‘ (Dance the light) in Sant Jaume Square, showing the way to the eagle of the city, an iconic character, who is going to start the passacaglia until Santa Maria del Mar.
Friday 12th February: young Lali will begin. This is the celebration for the young ones. Many activities will be available between 5PM and 8PM in Catedral Avenue. At 7PM music will start.
The guest city of 2016 invited by Santa Eulalia is Mataró, capital of Maresme. It will bring its “Cortejo Festivo de Mataró” (traditional characters from the city).
All of them can be visited in Palau de la Virreina until Saturday 13th of February.
On Sunday 14th at 5PM there will be a parade on the streets of Barcelona.
Celebrations will include “sardanes”, which is the traditional Catalan dance, and “castellers” the famous human towers. This “Diada Castellera” will take place on the 14th of February in Sant Jaume Square.
The last event of the celebrations is a traditional correfoc made by ‘Colla de Diableses‘ de Mataró. It is a particular celebration with firecrackers carried by devils and dragons.
Festival of Light in BCN
The Festival of Light lits up all historic centre of Barcelona at nightfall.
In this 5th edition of the Festival of Light, all corners in old town will lit up nicely thanks to a very modern lighting system.
Several Art Schools in Barcelona have been working on new designs for 24 spots in the city. There will be 3 routes to see them: Cathedral’s route, Sea’s route and Montcada’s route.
All of them will be marked with colour lights and public will be guided up to the centre of the courtyard. This performance will be shown Friday 12th and Saturday 13th from 6:30PM until midnight, and Sunday 14th from 6:30PM until 11PM.
Among the monumental buildings that you can visit there are splendid small palaces such as Palau Bru (Gothic), Palau-Larrard Sessa (Gracia), Palau Mercader (Gothic) and the Palau Centelles (Gothic); and iconic places such as the Picasso Museum (Born), MUHBA (Gothic) and the Crown of Aragon Archives (Gothic). There will also be lit some nice spots in Barcelona, for instance, Sant Felip Neri, Mercè, and Sant Just Squares.
Cultural events during the day and multimedia performances at night
During Barcelona Winter Festival several cultural institutions will open their doors to public. Days between 11th and 14th February. There will be many activities such as hands-on workshops, performances and lectures. Other private foundations (Fundació Miró, Fundació Tàpies, CaixaForum and CosmoCaixa) have also prepared some events. Modernist buildings (Casa Lleó Morera and Casa Ametller) will offer guided tours.
At the nightfall, besides all lightning from Festival of Light, Barcelona also prepares three-dimensional projections on the street.
There will be a special 3D projection called ‘Axioma’ in Plaça del Rey, a good performance where 3D glasses will be needed.
Other performances will take place at Paral·lel Street and “La Pedrera” de Gaudí and there will be a tribute to Enrique Granados on Passeig de Gràcia Street.
In conclusion, a good weekend of celebrations in Barcelona.
