Parliament starts National Day celebrations with flag-raising ceremony

The Catalan Parliament has marked the start of the Catalan National Day celebrations on Wednesday night, before September 11, with a flag-raising ceremony outside the chamber in Barcelona.

With the event, the chamber will restore the traditional institutional ceremony between 1980, when the parliament recovered its duties after the Francoist regime, and 2008. The tradition ended due to the financial crisis.

The ceremony started at 7:30 pm, when three members of the Catalan Mossos d'Esquadra police brought a nine-by-six-meter Catalan flag, which was raised on a 25-meter flagpole on the side of the chamber. The flag will now be a permanent image of the building.

The police were accompanied by a live interpretation of the sardana music 'Marxa Solemnial' by Josep Serra, and the Marxa de Guàrdies Imperials Catalanes, which honor Catalan soldiers who fought during the Succession War between 1705 and 1714.

Catalonia celebrates its National Day on September 11, the day Barcelona fell to the Bourbon forces during the Succession War, which ended in 1714.

Attending the event, there were Catalan president Salvador Illa, Parliament speaker Josep Rull, and Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni. Among the guests, there were also former Catalan presidents Jordi Pujol, José Montilla, Artur Mas, and Pere Aragonès, and former Parliament speaker Laura Borràs.

There were also members of all political parties except the conservative People's Party, Spanish far-right Vox, Catalan far-right Aliança Catalana, and pro-independence far-left CUP.

The Catalan Orpheon sang the 'El Cant de la Senyera' anthem when the flag was raised. Catalonia's national anthem is 'Els Segadors.'

The event explained the origin and history of the senyera (Catalan flag) and ended with the reading of Miquel Martí i Pol's poem, 'Ara Mateix.'

The flagpole has a small text explaining the history of the flag, and a QR code that allows people to read the text in Spanish, Aranese, English, French, German, and Italian.

The idea behind the celebration comes from the 2004 event, when Socialist Pasqual Maragall was the Catalan president, where the flag-raising ceremony had an important role.