In Children’s House
This week the children in Children’s House have been learning about La Mercè, Barcelona’s festa major. La Mercè is the city’s patron saint, the figure Barcelona looks to and honours. Across our sessions on this traditional festival we discovered that, although we only have one day off school, on 24 September, the celebration itself runs from 23 to 27 September.
We learned that the main poster changes every year and that each one is by a different artist, and we got to know the many activities and performances that take place during the celebration. We looked at pictures of the fireworks, the bestiari, the giants, the capgrossos, the castellers, the sardana dancing, the drummers, the correfocs or fire-devils and the funfair, so that we would recognise them if we saw them.
Many of these performances are accompanied by traditional music, which is quite distinctive because of the instruments used — the gralla, for example. The gralla is a woodwind instrument typical of Catalonia with a very particular sound. During the sessions we listened to it so that we would know it if we heard it in the street.
After going through all the pictures, answering questions and listening to each other’s experiences, the children were invited to choose an image and draw it, so that they could describe and enjoy La Mercè with their families and with friends who do not yet know it.
In Primary
We began the year talking, observing, learning and widening our knowledge of festes majors and popular culture: capgrossos, castellers, giants… In the lower primary years we worked on a range of speaking and writing activities based on pictures and a story. In the upper primary years we also learned what the Diada of the eleventh of September is and why it is marked. We are getting to know the capgrossos macers in depth and have begun to step into the fascinating world of the castellers. And in every year group we have discussed this year’s poster for La Mercè, Barcelona’s festa major.