Overview

This festivity in honor of Saint Anthony is held at the end of January. During the celebration the Gràcia neighborhood (centered around the Plaça del Diamant) gets dressed up with candles and people sing verses in honor of the saint. These verses ("cobles") are sung in an old and harmonious dialect of Catalan which comes from the island of Majorca. The tradition is based on the bonfires of Saint Anthony of Sa Pobla, a village on the island. Only strict vegetarians (almost unknown among Catalans anyway!) are excused in this time from eating sobrasada asada, a Majorcan specialty of roasted ground pork meat. Come and let yourself be carried away to a Mediterranean island atmosphere!