Berga celebrates quintessential Patum Completa tradition with fire and demons

The northern town of Berga has been fully taken over by the quintessential Patum Completa tradition with fire and demons on Thursday night, setting the tone for this over 600-year-old Corpus Christi tradition.

Thursday's edition was the most emotional ever as it honored local Josep Maria Isanta, who was murdered during the festivities 20 years ago.

The most memorable moment was during the second jump of the Nans Nous, his group, when his brother, cousin, and two friends started jumping dressed in the costumes of that year.

"He was a 100% patumaire, and wherever he is, it is certain that he will see it and be very happy," Jordi Isanta, brother of Josep Maria, said.

As is tradition, the events took place at the Plaça de Sant Pere in the center of Berga. Around 2,000 people gathered to jump and dance under fireworks and surrounded by giants and demons.

Only on Thursday, over 131 kilograms of gunpowder burned down, out of the scheduled 400 kilos during the five-day event.

"La Patum is magical, I do not know how to define it, but the smell of the fireproof plants (Clematis vitalba), the gunpowder, when Easter ends, you are already counting how many days are left for the Patum," Francesc Xavier Martínez, local, said when asked what the tradition means for him.

La Patum Completa started at 9:30 pm and ended past midnight with the 'salts,' where the action revolves around Sant Pere's square, featuring all the groups and hundreds of firecrackers that are set off at the same time on several occasions as madness overcomes this jam-packed location. 

There are two key moments, called 'plens', at midnight and at 2am or 3am, where all lights are dimmed and a performance of some 200 people dressed up as demons that jump at once, firing around a thousand firecrackers, takes place. The whole event lasted almost all night.

La Patum, Catalonia's most iconic medieval festival of demons and fire, started on Wednesday with its most inclusive edition. Sixty people with disabilities like her took part in the so-called 'Patum dels sentiments', the La Patum festival "of feelings," which, for the third consecutive year, is held in Plaça Sant Pere and not in the school facilities, as was tradition.

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