Celebrating the Festes de Sant Roc

Who was Sant Roc? 

The 14th-century French saint (known as Saint Roch in French) was born into a wealthy noble family, but gave up all worldly goods and entered the Franciscan Third Order at the age of 20, after the death of his parents. His chest was supposedly marked with a mysterious red cross from birth. Roc is known for having dedicated his life to helping and even curing people infected with the Black Death, and is revered in many parts of the world as the patron saint of invalids and the sick. 

According to local legend, Sant Roc supposedly stopped by the settlement that would become the city of Barcelona while on a pilgrimage to Rome; during his visit, he caught the plague himself. He took refuge in the city’s Roman walls when the citizens shunned him, and would have starved to death if not for the intervention of the local baker’s dog: the canine reportedly brought the ailing man bread and rolls to eat every day.* The saint eventually recovered, and continued on his pilgrimage with the dog in tow; as a result, Roc is also known as the patron saint of dogs.

Sant Roc is also credited with saving the residents of the Old City in a subsequent outbreak of the plague in 1583; the residents prayed to the saint for help, and supposedly as a result, not a single person died from the illness at that time. He became a popular figure in plague votives, or small paintings of saints that were meant to ward off that dreaded illness.

The Oldest “Festa Major”

Every Barcelona neighborhood has its own festa major, which takes place at different dates throughout the calendar year. The annual festival celebrating Sant Roc is the oldest major festival in the city, and dates back to 1589. The festa major of what is now known as the Gothic Quarter first took the shape of a procession through the streets of the Ciutat Vella, honoring the saint’s intervention and protection during the Black Death outbreak five years earlier. 

The celebrations have taken place in Plaça Nova (Plaça de la Catedral) and the surrounding streets without fail every year since—there is even an image of Sant Roc in the Plaça—with the exception of the first few years of the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814), and during the conflict of the Spanish Civil War. Once dictator Francisco Franco was in power in Spain, this festival was allowed to continue due to its markedly religious origins, unlike certain other local celebrations which were deemed to be too “secular” in nature.

The festival is always celebrated during the week in August that includes the feast day of Sant Roc, on August 16th, as well as the feast day of the Mare de Déu d’Agost, on the 15th. This year, the celebrations begin on August 12th and last through the 16th.

Traditional Activities and Fun in the Streets

Organized by the Plaça Nova Festival Association, the activities are largely centered on traditions that date back centuries. Aside from parades, processions, dancing gegants (the city’s “giants”), street games, puppet and magic shows, and folkloric dances such as sardanas—all of which are typically included in nearly every local festival in Catalunya—there are a number of activities that are particular to the Festas de Sant Roc. 

The festival is inaugurated by the hoisting of the Heraldic Flag of Sant Roc in Plaça Nova, which bears the symbol of the neighborhood. (The current design was created in 1906.) Other activities include drinking from the porró llarg (a traditional Catalan wine-drinking vessel, but modified in this case to have a drinking tube that is 75 cm long); participating in the cucanya (literally translated as “greasy pole,” children try to traverse a greased tree trunk in Plaça Nova without falling); competing in the dog festival (a canine exhibition in honor of the pup that supposedly saved Sant Roc’s life); attending the Catholic mass in honor of the saint; satisfying your sweet tooth on a few Sant Roc panellets (similar to the panellets eaten to honor the dead on All Saints’ Day, and which are first blessed at the mass). 

The mass, which is the most solemn and traditional part of the celebrations, is preceded by a procession featuring many of the city’s mythological bèsties, or beasts, gegants, people carrying the heraldic flag, a dwarf called Cu-cut riding a donkey and more. After the mass is over, a green flag is hung from the Palau de la Plaça Nova by the commissioner of the festival.

One of the arguably most satisfying traditions of the Festas de Sant Roc dates back to just the 19th century: the tradition of releasing a large balloon with the face of an unpopular or controversial public figure painted on it. (In the days when this tradition first began, public interest in the novelty of hot air balloons was high.) As the balloon rises into the clouds, the crowds gathered around yell: “Out! Out!” In theory, the shouting is the job of the local children, as this event takes place during the portion of the festivities aimed specifically at kids and young people, but many adults enjoy joining in, too. 

And of course, no Sant Roc celebration would be complete without the correfoc (fire run), organized by the Diables del Barri Gòtic (the team of “devils” of the Gothic neighborhood), and featuring musical accompaniment by the Víbria de Barcelona. This percussion ensemble is named after one of the city’s most famous mythological beasts: a female dragon with the tail of a snake, the wings of a bat, and a woman’s breasts. The correfoc traditionally goes through Plaça Nova, Carrer de Bisbe, Carrer de Sant Llúcia, Pla de la Seu, Carrer de Comtes, Carrer de la Pietat, Carrer de Sant Sever, Carrer de Sant Felip Neri and Plaça de Sant Felip Neri before heading back to Plaça Nova. 

A fireworks display on the last night of the festival closes out the festivities, leaving the city’s oldest neighborhood in anticipation of the city-wide festa major that takes place only six weeks later: La Mercè.

*Other historical sources tell the same story, but usually set in Italy rather than in Catalunya.