Thursday, January 20, 2011

Festival of Sant Antoni: The parade of the animals

Our four-year-old came home very excited today from school, telling us how all the animals were going to be out on the street really early Sunday morning. Our wannabe street-wise older son kept telling him that it was nonsense, that animals didn’t go on the street, that they’d get run over by cars, that it’s just stuff that kids say, etc.

So we checked in the Tot Sant Cugat, and guess what, younger brother was right!

On Sunday, January 23th Sant Cugat celebrates the annual festival of Sant Antoni, also called “Festa dels Tres Tombs”. (Apparently it has nothing to do with tombs.)

It involves an animal parade which will stop at the old townhall (Placa Barcelona), where the priest will bless all the animals. From what I’ve been able to read, this was an originally pagan festival that was rebranded as Christian.

Sant Cugat del Vallès - Festa de Sant Antoni (Foto: Ajuntament de Sant Cugat del Vallès)

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