In Sant Andreu del Palomar, the Festa Major is experienced with great intensity. On November 23rd, the festival cannon and all the characters accompanying it announced, in a parade, that the main celebration was here. An original way to kick off — and the pun is intended — a celebration they always prepare with great enthusiasm and which shows that this Barcelona neighborhood "still retains its soul as a town independent of the Catalan capital."
Sergio Diéguez, president of the Germandat Andreuenca, explains it to us. This is the entity that organizes this event every year and brings together giants, big-heads, pipe players, and musketeers. It is an association with a key role in organizing a local festival with which they feel that Sant Andreu "is still a town" and that keeps "its soul and essence" alive.
Street theatre with the soul of popular culture
Right on time, at 12 noon, they set off from Plaça de l'Estació singing corrandes and reviewing current events in Sant Andreu in a street theatre show full of satire and humour: the cannon parade. To find the origins of this curious event, we must go back thirty-nine years, when the Brotherhood had its first festive cannon, designed to fire sweets, as happens in other Catalan towns. Unfortunately, it did not work well and fell into disuse. It did not return to the streets until 2000, when it was reborn with the creation of the Esclat Santandreuenc, which today marks the beginning of the Festa Major and which, according to Diéguez, is the event they care for and pamper the most. "This event is the best we do for the Festa Major in Sant Andreu. It is the moment when you can see all the popular dances and the imagery of Sant Andreu: the giants, the big-heads, the ball de rams, de teixidores, the Colomí, the fire beasts... Everything that identifies us as a people," adds this resident of Sant Andreu.
Regarding the cannon parade, once the element was recovered for L'Esclat, they decided to give it more prominence, as they do in Barceloneta, and accompany it with a story full of "quirky" characters who review the year with satire and humor to make the public laugh, especially families, while announcing that the festivities are arriving.
Sant Andreu sings when the Canoner arrives
Despite declaring themselves independent from Barcelona, they also satirize what happens in the big city. This year, to announce the parade of the cannon, they parodied the promotional campaign that Barcelona City Council commissioned from the director and set designer Lluís Danés, with the video in which the singer Gemma Humet sang at La Mercè. With this pretext, the characters of the Sant Andreu del Palomar cannon have, once again, satirized current events around them.
Iconic figures of the festival participate in the parade. The main one is the cannoneer, who acts as master of ceremonies and leads the event. Each character is named after a street in Sant Andreu, allowing residents to recognize them. We find, for example, Mayor Fabra i Puig, a parody of political power that changes according to its interests; Narcís Sala, the artilleryman, who represents the world of vices; Concepció Arenal, who embodies the rich and conceited bourgeoisie; or the nun, who symbolizes religion and constantly reminds us that the Festa Major is held in honor of Sant Andreu Apòstol. The latest addition is Colonel Santiburcio, a satirical tribute to police power and the old military barracks that were once located in this area.
All these characters appear only during this parade on the Sunday before the Festa Major. The children always ask where they live, as they disappear for the rest of the year and don't return until the following year, explains Diéguez, who adds that this event, which began eight years ago with a lot of improvisation, has become one of the most carefully crafted by the organization and one of the most anticipated by the residents.
Giants from everywhere in a nightclub
Beyond the parade of the cannon and the "Esclat andreuenc," they have also organized a very interesting exhibition. It is a giant exhibition that they have been organizing for fourteen years and have been adapting until they reached the current idea. Years ago, they exhibited their giants and those of all the schools in Sant Andreu, but it was repeated every year and became monotonous. That's why they opted to establish an annual theme and play with it. This year, the giants have been like in a disco. The exhibition, held at the Espai Josep Bota in Fabra i Coats, has included figures such as the Gegants of the Comediants company or the Gegants de Sant Isidre (Valencia), peculiar figures that are usually difficult to see.
A few weeks ago, in Sant Andreu, they also opened a new exhibition space for their giants, located in the old Sant Andreu del Palomar train station. From now on, residents will be able to enjoy the figures every day (as long as they are not out dancing). This was a long-standing demand, as the giants used to be moved from place to place, and the association saw the need to exhibit the imagery and, in the long term, create a cultural center in this new facility, using the figures as an attraction. To announce the giants' move to the station, they released a humorous video in which the giant heads take the station keys from the District Councillor, Marta Villanueva, in a further demonstration of the vitality and enthusiasm of the Germandat Andreuenca
