Who said that the eve of Saint Anthony has to be a quiet night of cold and silence? In Sant Andreu de Palomar, for 33 years, the answer has been a resounding no. This Saturday, January 10th, at 8:30 PM in Plaça de Can Fabra, La Satànica de Sant Andreu presents the 34th edition of the Tres Tombs Infernals. A unique pyro-theatrical performance that transforms the traditional Saint Anthony procession into an infernal parody full of humor, fire, and social criticism.
Integrated into Barcelona's Sant Antoni Festival, with support from the District and ICUB, these Tres Tombs have become a festive attraction that draws crowds from beyond the neighborhood and is now part of the Sant Andreu calendar. The origin dates back to 1993, when La Satànica celebrated its fifth anniversary by launching a prelude to the Tres Tombs parade.
A unique show
"Our idea was to try to create a new event, but also with a certain traditional root," explains the show's coordinator, Roger Bernet. "We based it on some of the traditions of the Catalan Countries, for example the Santantonades of Morella, the Foguerons of the Islands, and the correfoc of Barcelona." The fusion gave life to a unique piece: "As far as I know, it's not done anywhere else," Bernet emphasizes.
The plot recreates Satan's temptations of Saint Anthony in the desert, with Power, Mam (drugs and gluttony), and Sex. Satan, accompanied by the She-Devil, the Jester, and the Infernal Furies (represented by dancers from Gemma Dansa and the Elisabeth Pujol Dance Studio), try to corrupt the Saint, who resists with Saint Michael. The set design, which transforms year after year, will this year represent an amusement park, Temptaparc. In parallel, the script has also been updated to satirize current events from the past year. "There are some fragments that are always the same," but "the rest of the script is adapted." Therefore, the audience enjoys the same common thread each year, but with a completely unexpected script.
It's worth noting that the event not only combines street theatre, light, pyrotechnics, and a final three-round fire run (as if it were three laps), but also features its own music created in 2023 by artists Marc de Rosselló and Joan Palà. Furthermore, the show is accessible in Catalan Sign Language and concludes with bread with tomato, sausage, and hot broth for all attendees who purchase a ticket at the bar.
Popular culture in its purest form
The annual celebration of the Tres Tombs Infernals is made possible by the approximately sixty actors, devils, dancers, etc., who collaborate out of love for popular culture. In fact, the project received the Best Award for the best original initiative in 2015.
However, can everyone enjoy the show, even if fireworks make them nervous? In Bernet's opinion, yes: "They'll have a good time, because it's still a very humorous event." After all, he recalls that "it's a unique event in Catalonia" and that, if the sparks make them nervous, "they can always move further back." After all, the front row is always full of fire lovers: as soon as the barriers are removed, people run every year to grab the best spots in the square until they wait for the lights to go out, when tradition, culture, and community come together in a spectacle marked in red on the Sant Andreu calendar.
