The Sweetest (and yet most "violent") Festival - Sant Medir 2014

I can't believe this is our 4th round of holidays now.  I remember the first Sant Medir.  We were living over on c/Ventallo and Liam wasn't quite 3 yet so he was still home with me full time.  I was in my office which was at the front of the apartment and I thought I heard hoofs clomping outside.  I took a look and my street, a street in the middle of a city, was full of horses!!  What?????

It wasn't til my babysitter came later that morning that I found out what was going on.  It was the festival of Sant Medir, or the sweetest festival.  A day filled with horses, batucada, floats (I use this term loosely) and lots and lots of hard candies being thrown to the crowds all around.

I love this holiday.  I'm not sure what it is about it, but I love it.  Everyone here gets in to it - young and old alike.  You'll see people along the streets during the day with umbrellas tipped upside down to catch the candy being thrown from the floats.  Everyone is in a celebratory mood and how can you not be when candy is being "tossed" at you as the floats drive by.

I love that here in the middle of the city there are horses and bands randomly crisscrossing the neighborhood.  Traffic stops and the horses and floats continue along their way.  Each colla (group) marching down a different street, putting smiles on peoples' faces. Perhaps even taking out an eye or two along the way with the candy being hurled from the floats.

I wandered around a little bit during the daytime while running my errands, taking a few photos and video along the way.

Horses along Travessera de Gracia

And a marching band

This is a typical "float" for the Sant Medir festivities

A quick video of one of the daytime parades:  http://youtu.be/Mj5gahhCszc

In the evening, the kids and I went down to Gran de Gracia where the big parade would be finishing up.  They were a little on the punchy side and it meant being out well past bedtime.  But we had a great time watching the batucada and they would run up to the floats yelling "aquí, aquí!!"  We only lasted about 45 minutes before they were done.  But they were happy with the outcome and both came home with a bag full of candies.

Waiting for the festivities to begin

Eating a healthy carrot before he starts to eat his body weight in candy

I thought these horses were just gorgeous!

Waiting to catch some candy

Batucada

Mmmm candy!

Throwing candy from the floats

Horse tattoo?

Ready and waiting for the candy to land in their bags

A few videos of the night: http://youtu.be/QSsrOKzV0Wg and http://youtu.be/VFOQo69qBfc

It was a fun day / night and one more festival to check off on the books.  Looking forward to Sant Jordi in a few weeks - my absolute favorite holiday here!!!

Besos,
Julie

Changing with the Times - Sant Medir 2013

Now, normally I should be writing about the Festa de Sant Medir in real time.  In case you've forgotten or maybe I haven't told you before, in Spain (and I believe most of Europe), holidays are actually celebrated on their actual day - not observed on a Monday or Friday.  So since today is March 3, the Festa de Sant Medir should have happened today.

But it didn't.  Instead, much to our surprise it was yesterday, March 2.  At first we thought, hmmmm.... maybe it wasn't on the 3rd the last few years.  But then I looked back on pictures and my calendar and yup, it's been March 3rd year after year.  The good news is that this made it easier to get out of my street today when Aidan and I had a birthday party to go to.  The bad news is my Saturday shopping was a bit miserable with the tons and tons of crowds!!

And that, my friends, is exactly why the festival was changed.  Yes, someone finally made the connection that having a festival on a Saturday is a great way to boost the economy, at least here in Gracia (it's only a festival held in this part of the city).  How did I find this out?  Well, I was doing my weekly shopping at my "other" stores (other meaning stores other than my grocery store and fruit and veggie stand - this means my American store, the cheese store, the butcher, the Italian store, etc etc which I do while the kids are at tennis on Sat with Josh) and when I was chatting with the woman who runs the Italian store, I asked her... isn't Sant Medir usually on the 3rd?

Her response?  Yes it is, but since last year it was on a Saturday for the first time in 7 years and the merchants were sooooo pleased with the extra money in their pockets, they decided that instead of having the festival on Sunday which would have been the 3rd (on Sunday EVERY shop is closed here, even the grocery store), they decided to move it to Saturday in the hopes that more money would be made.  Smart move Gracia...smart move indeed.

Now I'm not saying we have to move every festival to the weekend and in fact, I wouldn't like that.  I like that tradition is held near and dear to the people in Spain.  However, I think there needs to be a happy medium.  In a time where there is 26% unemployment, people need to think outside the box as well as on occasion, bend in their traditions just a little bit for an end result that will hopefully in the long run help turn things around.

So to get back to the festival.  We heard the booms of fireworks around 8AM and thought....hmmmm, no way they could be doing this today.  And then Josh went out running and said there were horses on some of the street getting ready.  Um, ok, so maybe it is today????  The kids were bummed that they had to go to tennis but now that we have a car they don't have to leave until 10:40 and the festival starts around 9:30.  And so Josh took them out for a little bit before tennis so they could collect some candy.

Oh yeah, I should probably remind you what Sant Medir is in case you forgot from years' past.  Sant Medir is considered the "sweetest festival" here in Gracia.  We have parades running up and down all different streets during the day (with the exception of siesta of course) - often times running into each other at varying intersections.  During these mini parades, there are horses and batucada (percussion band) and "floats" (I use that term loosely as they are trucks with the sides pulled up) where the people on board don't just throw but hurl candy at the crowd.  Hard candy mind you.  And it hurts when it hits!

Walking around doing my errands I caught a few shots and then when the kids got home from tennis there happened to be part of the parade finishing up near our square and as we walked to lunch.  So we grabbed a tote and started catching candy.  The only downside to the festival being on a Saturday...the night time parade.  This is a collaboration of all the individual street parades that do a specific route and ends down Gran de Gracia.  Last year since it was on a Saturday it was beyond jam packed with people... to the point where Aidan said he didn't care about the candy and there were too many people and can we please go home.  So this year, since it was Saturday again, we didn't even bother with the evening parade.  Slacking a little bit on our festival attendance, perhaps a little bit of laziness as well, but I can't help but say I wasn't disappointed to not have to shove our way through the crowds.

Here is some video I took from my iphone as I walked home from the grocery store.  Notice the cars being pelted in the street with hard candy... glad I have a garage!!  Also notice the wheels on the wagons - they are COVERED in candy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ9drPCuAOw 

Batucada near our square

Collecting candy from the street

Waiting patiently

Ok band move along, we want candy!!!

Some of the people on the street were handing porrons of wine to the people in the parade - a porron is a type of wine pitcher with a spout so you can pour it right into your mouth.  Click on the picture to see it larger.

More horses

More drinking... seeing a theme here?

These two horses were less than happy and were jumping up as best they could on their hind legs.

More batucada

Mmmmm.... candy!

Traditional "float"

Aqui, aqui!!!!

Waiting in the street for more candy

But in the end, it was a fun way to spend part of a Saturday, enjoying the traditions of our neighborhood, collecting some candy and then trekking our way thru the sticky streets of Gracia back towards home (this must be the street cleaners worst nightmare).

Besos,
Julie

Let Them Eat Sweets!!! Sant Medir 2012

In Spain (I can't vouch for all of Europe), it's traditional that holidays are celebrated on their actual day rather than an observed day like Monday or Friday as we do in the States.  Because of this we often find ourselves with a holiday in the middle of the week (and depending on the significance of the holiday many companies will give bridges so you only work part of that week instead of just having a day off in the middle). 

The past few years, the Sant Medir festival was held during the week, but this year we were lucky enough that it was on a Saturday.  Lucky...and not so lucky actually.  It was really nice because both the boys and Josh got to enjoy the daytime festivities which until this weekend only Liam and I had seen (Liam the year that we moved here before he started school).  Aidan and I were in the grocery store when we heard the parade starting up, so we raced home just in time to see the horses coming down our street and the parade beginning.

He could not contain his excitement and so I let him go on ahead of me.  And no, I don't have a problem with that in the city even though he's only 7.  Children here are so much more independent and not to mention it was within a block of our apartment, if he can't navigate the street by our apartment on his own after 2 years, then I have other reasons to be concerned!! 

Aidan standing in front of our apartment where the horses are all lined up...he's never gotten to see this so he was very excited!

Horse and buggy in front of the grocery store on our corner

Getting ready to start

So of course we made it home and Aidan rushed in to get Liam who was a bit stunned trying to find and put on his sneakers (an achievement in and of itself these days).  I couldn't remember what time the parade started in the morning and wasn't really expecting it to start before 10 so felt badly for the rush.  Poor Josh was left semi-behind because he had just gotten out of the shower. 

The parade was making it's way back down our street so the kids lined up on the sidewalk ready to start catching their stash of candy for the day.  They both had tote bags ready to be filled!!  I got video of this first candy-catching but unfortunately I seemed to have had the camera on zoom, so sorry in advance for the extra close ups... but you'll still see the boys' excitment!

http://youtu.be/Td6rA_VoU4k

Some of the candy after the parade went by our apartment

After the parade went by our apartment the boys rushed inside to get their scooters/bikes so that we could then follow the parade all around Gracia.  In the end, they were so excited that we let them skip their tennis lessons so they could have fun running around picking up candy - I can't say I blame them, I'd want to do them same if I were their age!

Aidan ready to go get more candy

Liam's bike even has a basket for all the candy - how handy!

Watching the parade going down Travessera de Gracia

Running to catch more candy - the kids all yell "aqui, aqui" (here, here)

I don't know if Liam had forgotten how much fun he has at this parade, but he was super excited.  He even did what he called his candy dance for us.  To watch it, click here:  http://youtu.be/mevvTfGMGB0.  As you can see, while they were wearing their bike helmets for riding safety, they also come in handy to avoid getting bonked in the head with hard candy!

The parade going back around our block

Liam showing us his candy dance again

Liam is thrilled with getting a "sucker" as he calls it

Aidan chasing the parade thru Gracia

Waiting on yet another street corner

With yet more candy in his mouth - I think he ate his weight in candy

A tiny bit of the aftermath - the streets were covered in candy, most of it run over by cars, etc - Josh described it perfectly, it felt like walking on velcro as your feet stuck to the pavement with each step.

We spent about an hour following the various parades thru Gracia.  Eventually the kids got bored with the process and so we headed up for a family trip to the American store.  What normally takes me about 40 minutes to walk to, took well over an hour with the kids who then also had their sugar meltdowns.  Pretty as you can imagine... But on our way up to the store we saw more and more parades going through Gracia and it was a really festive way to start the morning.

The big parade is at night and this is the only parade Josh and Aidan had been to before that morning.  It's down on Gran de Gracia which is close to a mile walk for us.  I had asked Aidan during the early evening if he still wanted to go since he'd done the daytime parade and he was at first unsure if he wanted to leave the comfort of the couch given the several miles of walking he had already done during the course of the day.  In the end, they voted that yes, they wanted to go.

So off we went to Gran de Gracia.  The plus of the festival being on the weekend was that Josh and Aidan got to see the daytime parade.  The minus was that the evening parade was PACKED!  I normally get there way too early with the boys and we end up standing around for a good hour.  This year I decided to take a more "spanish" approach and leave a little closer to the start of the parade.  I don't think it would have mattered either way because even those who had key spots along the sidewalk were squished!  It was just insanely crowded. 

Liam found a space on the sidewalk near some kids his age.

 I think he managed to get 4 pieces of candy and despite the look on his face,  he was less than thrilled

The crowds drove Aidan insane and he caught hardly any candy.  Not fun!

The batucada - my favorite part of any festival!

For video:  http://youtu.be/hObmc-jLWOM and http://youtu.be/FDBQVZ6MgUE

Some of the many horses we saw

Dividing up the 6 pieces of candy caught

In the end, we stayed about 15 minutes, significantly less time compared to previous years.  But since the boys caught tons of candy during the day, they decided they'd had enough of the crowds pushing them around and were ready to head  home.  All in all, another great day in our neighborhood!!!

Besos,

Julie