The Festes de Sants 2023 are already underway! These wonderful self-organized street parties, successors in both their spirit and in the calender to those of Gràcia, are already in full swing. But, even if they started on Saturday, you still have the whole week ahead of you to enjoy the best that they offer, since they run till Sunday 27th August.
🎊 Festes de Sants 2023: PDF programme, concerts and decorated streets (in Catalan)
Here are the five things we've picked that you really mustn't miss to fully enjoy the 2023 Sants festivities:
1. See the decorated streets
This is the first and most obvious thing. As in Gràcia, the residents of each street get involved in decorating it thematically, achieving spectacular results, and entering a competition to see the winner of the year. This Monday, the winners of the 12-street competition for best decoration have been announced: first place has gone to Carrer Sagunt with its Japanese origami theme. Second is Carrer Papin, with a decoration intended to raise awareness of the effects of climate change by representing the Sants neighborhood flooded by rising sea levels. The podium is completed by Carrer Alcolea de Baix, one of the most iconic participants in these festivities, which this year has erected a representation of various periods in history using light as a guiding thread.
Below, the map of all the Sants streets that are decorated in 2023:
Apart from seeing the streets for their own sake, you should treasure them because it's not clear how many more years the annual festes will be able to continue. As explained to Betevé by the president of the Sants Festa Major Federation, Antoni Devesa, this year only 12 streets have taken part in the decoration competition. In 2010 there were 22 streets. This varies, but in general,"a street or so falls every year". The causes are the lack of a new generation to take over: young people don't want to get involved given the bureaucratic effort that everything entails, and many of the new residents of the neighbourhood simply don't care.
2. Enjoy the neighbourhood's gastronomy
In Sants you will find a huge number of establishments open to the street not only to drink, but also to eat and enjoy all the options. But in addition, many of the scheduled activities are popular meals, some for residents to enjoy together and others for visitors.
- Tuesday night sees the dinners in the street for the residents
- On Wednesday there is a botifarrada - a sausage sizzle - at Plaça Farga and Carrer Galileu, a lovely rice dish with a popular paellada in Alcolea de Baix, and a sardinada in Alcolea de Dalt.
- On Thursday there is another botifarrada in Vallespir de Baix and more sardines - a sardinada - in Valladolid, and there is also a xocolatada - yes, chocolate - in Carrer Finlândia.
- On Friday 25th there are mandonguilles, fideuada and more botifarres - that's meatballs, fideuà and sausages - in Alcolea de Baix, de Dalt and Vallespir de Dalt respectively.
3. Take the opportunity to take a guided tour of the neighborhood
The Sants district has an interesting history and is part of the soul of the city. There are several guided tours that you can find online and take advantage of this week, while the neighbourhood is so dressed up, to get to know it more thoroughly and to know why it is important to preserve all this.
4. See the pyromusical
On Sunday 27th, the festivities end (last chance to see the decorated streets, which will be quite quiet) but the culminating moment is at 10pm, when the pyromusical closes the Festes, and you can see it from the stands of Parc de l'Espanya Industrial.
5. Enjoy it all to the max!
It is a week when the streets and squares of Sants are full of life, and as well as the decorations, eating and drinking, one of the other important parts of the programme are the concerts:
🎶 Concerts for Festes de Sants 2023 with hours and artists (in Catalan)
And, in addition, there will be activities all throughout the neighbourhood everyday. For example, on Tuesday 22nd there are street basketball and popular games, on Wednesday 23rd a storyteller and a swing class, and on Friday, an escape room. And on Saturday 26th there are castellers in Plaça Bonet i Muixí! These are just a few examples, consult the full programme above and make the most of your visit to the Sants 2023 festivities!