christian tradition

The 27^th of April is the feast day of the Mare de Déu deMontserrat,Our Lady of Montserrat, or as she is more affectionately called in Catalonia, la Moreneta, "the little dark-skinned one". One of the only black images of the Virgin Mary in Europe, the Virgin of Montserrat is the patron saint of all dioceses in Catalonia and together with St. George (Sant Jordi) is considered the patron saint of the territory. In recent history, she has also become a symbol for Catalan national identity and Catholic Catalan nationalism. Up in the mountains of Montserrat, the Santa María abbey celebrated on Monday with a mass dedicated to the Virgin, and outside in the main square there were numerous traditional activities including people making human towers (castells), music bands and food stalls, as well as groups dancing the traditional Catalan dance, La Sardana.

This week, the Museum of the History of Barcelona (MUHBA) launched a new exhibition 'Barcelona in late antiquity: Christianity, Visigoths and the city'. 120 new pieces dating back from between the 4^th and 7^th centuries are going to be on display in the museum's Monumental Site of Plaça del Rei, in the heart of the Gothic Quarter. The launch has also been an opportunity to present the re-designed archaeological tour of this specific underground site, with its area which is open to the public growing in size. "The new archaeological discoveries contribute to explain the main transformations that took place in Barcelona, from Roman Barcino to Christianity", the curator Julia Beltran de Heredia said to CNA.

On 17^th of January, horses, ponies and donkeys, along with carriages, take to the streets of many cities in Catalonia to celebrate the ‘Tres Tombs’ parade (which would read as ‘Three Laps’). This tradition is in honor of Saint Anthony Abad, the patron saint of animals. Vilanovai la Geltrú, a coastal town 50km south of Barcelona, is one of the places where this festivity is lived to the fullest by local citizens. Year after year it plays host to the biggest ‘Tres Tombs’ parade in Catalonia. This year, nearly 100 carriages and over 300 horses, ponies and donkeys from all over Catalonia showed up at Vilanova on a sunny winter day and paraded through the packed streets of the city.

Just like every Christmas, traditional Living Nativity Scenes around Catalonia are on show, this year with an expected increase of attendance despite cuts in public subsidies. Towns are unwilling to let budget cuts affect them and they have combined imagination, volunteer work and citizen involvement to maintain the tradition.