{"id":59993,"date":"2016-01-19T09:12:01","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T08:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/?p=59993"},"modified":"2016-10-07T11:17:38","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T09:17:38","slug":"barcelonas-festival-activities-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/barcelonas-festival-activities-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona\u2019s Festival Activities Centers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A city that is extremely rich in culture, <strong>Barcelona<\/strong> has a variety of <strong>Festival Activities Centers<\/strong>, places where visitors can go to in order to get familiar with popular culture and local traditions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">These centers are normally used by groups that take part in local cultural events and activities like those who dance <strong><em>Sardana<\/em> <\/strong>or<strong> <em>Bastonets<\/em><\/strong> and those who form <strong><em>Castellets.<\/em> <\/strong>There are several centers exhibiting different pieces used in traditional events, such as <em><strong>Gegants<\/strong>,<\/em> and<em> <strong>Cap-Grossos<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Not familiar with these traditions and characters? Here is a quick look at some of the most famous ones:<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_17 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-grey\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class=\"ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1\"><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/barcelonas-festival-activities-centers\/#La_Sardana\" title=\"La Sardana\">La Sardana<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/barcelonas-festival-activities-centers\/#Bastonets\" title=\"Bastonets\">Bastonets<\/a><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-5\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-5\"><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-5\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-5\"><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-5\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-5\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/barcelonas-festival-activities-centers\/#Related_article_Enjoy_Barcelona_Withlocals\" title=\"Related article:\u00a0Enjoy Barcelona Withlocals\">Related article:\u00a0Enjoy Barcelona Withlocals<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/barcelonas-festival-activities-centers\/#Castellets\" title=\"Castellets\">Castellets<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/barcelonas-festival-activities-centers\/#Gegants_and_Cap_Grossos\" title=\"Gegants and Cap Grossos\">Gegants and Cap Grossos<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"La_Sardana\"><\/span><strong>La Sardana<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Barcelona_-_Sardana_001.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-59995\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Barcelona_-_Sardana_001-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"barcelona\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>The <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sardana\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sardana<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is one of <strong>Catalonia\u2019s traditional dances<\/strong>, in which people hold hands, elevate their arms and perform a couple of movements with their feet. To perform the <em><strong>Sardana<\/strong>,<\/em> people have to form a circle. Anyone can join a <em><strong>Sardana<\/strong><\/em> circle in motion. When the circle becomes too big, smaller circles start forming.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <em><strong>Sardana<\/strong><\/em> can be seen in almost any traditional Catalan event, like <strong>Sant Joan<\/strong> in June, and <strong>La Merc\u00e9<\/strong>, in September.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bastonets\"><\/span><strong>Bastonets<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Another <strong>traditional Catalan dance<\/strong> is the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=I6mSPgxXS9s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>Bastonets<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em> The <em>bastoners<\/em> are usually groups of 8 to 24 people, each of them holding a thick piece of wood in each hand. The music plays and the <em>bastoners<\/em> walk and jump, while knocking the <em>bastons<\/em> against each other in a rhythmic manner.<\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_article_Enjoy_Barcelona_Withlocals\"><\/span>Related article:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/withlocals-barcelona\/\" target=\"_blank\">Enjoy Barcelona Withlocals<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Castellets\"><\/span><strong>Castellets<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Castellets<\/strong><\/em> are basically <strong>human towers<\/strong>. The stronger people form the bottom of the tower, gathered in a circle, placing their arms on top of the people standing next to them. The next group of people climb on their shoulders, and the next ones on top of the second group\u2019s shoulders and so on, until there is only one person standing on top, usually a child.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <em><strong>Castellets<\/strong><\/em> can usually be observed on <strong>Sant Jordi<\/strong>\u2019s day, on April 23<sup>rd<\/sup>, during Sant Joan, and a variety of Catalan festivals.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Gegants_and_Cap_Grossos\"><\/span><strong>Gegants and Cap Grossos<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>Gegants<\/em><\/strong> or <strong>Giants<\/strong> are tall papier-mache figures that represent kings, queens, bourgeois people and peasants. These figures are featured in parades at several of the Catalan festivals, dancing back and forth to the sound of traditional music.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/360px-Capgrossos_a_Bellpuig_II.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-59994 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/360px-Capgrossos_a_Bellpuig_II-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"barcelona\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Cap Grossos<\/em><\/strong> or Big Heads are human-scale figures that feature huge carton-pierre heads. The heads are usually worn by people who dress in matching costumes, dancing and chasing after people.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The core function of the <strong>Festival Activities Centers<\/strong> is to organize activities related to the Catalan popular culture and its traditions. The groups meet at the centers to organize, discuss, rehearse and store costumes and accessories used during events.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <strong>Festival Activities Centers<\/strong> network is composed by a total of 14 locations like <a href=\"http:\/\/culturapopular.bcn.cat\/en\/cases-de-la-festa\/what-are-festival-activities-centres\/centre-dimatgeria-festiva-de-sant-marti-can\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>Centre d\u2019Imatgeria Festiva de Sant Mart\u00ed \u2013 Can Saladrigas<\/strong><\/a>, located inside Poblenou\u2019s library, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/catalan-folk-culture-and-casa-dels-entremesos\/\" target=\"_blank\">La Casa dels Entremesos<\/a><\/strong>, in the Gothic neighborhood.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: none;\"\n    class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-valign-bottom kksr-align-left \"\n    data-id=\"59993\"\n    data-slug=\"\">\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 0px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n    <div class=\"kksr-legend\">\n            <span class=\"kksr-muted\">Rate us!<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A city that is extremely rich in culture, Barcelona has a variety of Festival Activities Centers, places where visitors can go to in order to get familiar with popular culture and local traditions. These centers are normally used by groups that take part in local cultural events and activities like those who dance Sardana or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":59996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4348],"tags":[3253],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59993"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80605,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59993\/revisions\/80605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}