La Mercè, Barcelona’s Second Patron Saint

Just like every neighborhood has its festa major (main festival), nearly every town or city in Catalunya has a city-wide festival in honor of its patron saint. The city of Barcelona has two patron saints: Santa Eulàlia and the Mare de Déu de la Mercè, (Our Lady of Mercy), also known as La Virgen de la Mercè, known simply as La Mercè.

While September 24 is the official day celebrating the saint, every year the city hosts a massive celebration that lasts several days. In spite of the festival’s religious origins, the modern-day version of the celebration includes all kinds of activities: from traditional parades to rock concerts to children’s activities.

The History of La Mercè

Our Lady of Mercy already had some history with Catalunya long before she was declared one of Barcelona’s patron saints. On September 24, 1218 the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to Catalan king Jaume I, and instructed him to found a religious order—eventually to be known as the Order of Mercy, or the Mercedarians—to save Christians held captive in Saracen territories.

Then, over four hundred years later in 1687, legend has it that she reappeared in order to save the city of Barcelona from a terrible plague of locusts. Barcelona already had a patron saint, Santa Eulàlia, a young Christian martyr, but as the local government had made an official promise to appoint La Virgen the patron saint of the city if she would only save the population from the army of insects, La Mare de Déu de la Mercè became Barcelona’s second official patron saint.

It wasn’t until the year 1868 that the Catholic Church under Pope Pius IX recognized Our Lady of Mercy’s appointment, and while spontaneous celebrations had occurred in honor of La Virgen throughout the Middle Ages, no official festival of La Mercè was instituted by local authorities until the 19th century. Since then, many of the activities that occur throughout the days of celebration are coordinated by the city’s government, though neighborhood social clubs also play an important role.

While Santa Eulàlia remained co-patron thanks to her great popularity with the local residents, an urban legend surrounding the weather of La Mercè says that almost every year a mysterious rain shower falls on the 24th of September. The rain is said to be the tears of a sad and jealous Santa Eulàlia, who still suffers greatly when she sees the people of her city pay tribute to her rival.

The celebrations of La Mercè in the1920s and 1930s were marred by conflict between groups who were in favor of focusing the celebration on its religious roots, and others who wanted La Mercè to be more of a secular, folkloric event concentrating on street art, dancing and fireworks. During the Franco regime, the conservatives gained significant ground, but in the 1960s the festivities gradually began to incorporate more and more secular cultural acts.

Many of the most beloved traditional activities aren’t necessarily specific only to Barcelona but are elements of popular culture from all over Catalunya that have been absorbed into the city’s own culture and celebrations. The sardana originally comes from Girona; the castellers and the correfoc from Tarragona; the street processions date back centuries to Corpus Christi parades. However, over time all of these things have come to represent the Catalan capital.

In keeping with this concept of incorporating surrounding cultural elements into its celebrations, each year La Mercè features an invited guest city. The two cities collaborate throughout the year leading up to the event, producing collaborations representing the best of both worlds. Recent cities have included Stockholm, Buenos Aires, Dhaka, Havana, Montreal and Saint Petersburg.

Every year the government also commissions a poster design from a notable Catalan visual artist. Past designs include works by artists such as Antoni Tapiès, Antoni Miralda and Javier Mariscal.

Things to Do: Catalan Traditions

Processions of paper mâché gegants and capgrossos (literally, “giants” and “big heads”) have been an integral part of the La Mercè celebration since 1902. Each neighborhood has their “couple” of gegants, usually representing important personages from history or reflecting the traditional professions of the barri’s residents. This fun and festive parade is often accompanied by bands of musicians playing traditional instruments—or sometimes groups composed only of percussionists, called a batucada.

Other traditional events include the trabucaires (blunderbuss processions), and the castellers competitions (the building of human towers). The castellers—a sport or an art, depending on who you ask—are an important part of Catalan culture; in 2010 the practice was declared to be an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The main castellers competition during La Mercè takes place in Plaça Sant Jaume. The towers often reach as high as eight levels of people and are topped by a small boy or girl called the enxaneta.

A favorite event for both tourists and locals alike is the correfoc, which literally translates to “fire run.” The procession takes place in the afternoon or at night, and is composed of devils, dragons and other spark- and flame-spitting bèsties, or beasts, and is a spectacular sight. Batucadas representing their individual neighborhoods are also an integral part of the correfoc.

And for those looking for less-flammable activities, if you explore the center of town, you’re bound to run into performances of the sardana, a traditional Catalan folk dance, in Plaça Sant Jaume or in front of the Cathedral. A special sardana called the Galop de La Mercè is a dance that is performed only on the closing day of the festival.

Live Music, Fun for Kids, and More

If you’re looking for less traditional entertainment, there’s no shortage of live music all over Barcelona during all the days of La Mercè. Large and small open-air stages are set up all over the city—some of the biggest stages are located in Plaça Sant Jaume and in front of the Cathedral, as well as in Plaça Reial, Arc de Triomf, el Parc del Fòrum—and as the BAM music festival (Barcelona Acció Musical) occurs at exactly the same time, there is a wide range of musical styles to choose from.

If you need a break and want to escape the buzz of the busy city streets, most of the city’s museums and many historical buildings throw open their doors to visitors free of charge during the celebrations.

While you’re wandering around the city at night, make sure to stop by the Ajuntament (City Hall) to check out the visually stunning light “mapping” sessions, which convert the facade of the famous building into a canvas showing all kinds of fantastic scenes.

The Parc de la Ciutadella and other locations scattered around of the center of town also offer a number of family-friendly activities, including food trucks, puppet shows, interactive theater workshops, concerts of children’s music, street acrobats, light displays set to music at the “Magic Fountain” in front of the MACBA museum, and more.

As a grand finale, the festivities end with a massive fireworks display, which is not the only pyrotechnic event over the three days but is usually the largest and most spectacular.

For other ideas about how to celebrate La Mercè see our article Celebrating La Mercè.

Many of the city’s museums observe the holiday with a jornada de portes obertes (open doors). Check out our interactive map with all the locations that are throwing open their doors for free: Map of Barcelona Museums with Free Entry for La Mercè.

Published September 18, 2021, updated September 18, 2023.