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One of the great things about Catalunya is its Neighbours Associations. I suppose in response to ineffective politicians and greedy developers.
However their purpose is not just political, they are also there to bring people together, and with a history full of mediaeval traditions of Giants, Devils, Castellers and a panoply of time-honoured Party tricks, street parties and village fiestas are common throughout the land.
Every year, towards the end of June, the St Just neighbourhood in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona organises a bash. Three days of bands playing the Duck Dance, films projected onto sheets, and on the third day the big Paella lunch.
A cast of thousands. But as usual it's all down to a handful of people.
Our first hero today is Salvador "El Gran Chefe". As you can see he's a cheerful lad, a one-man fiesta.
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The whole thing is organised from a mysterious hole in the wall which appears once a year, where before there was nothing at all.
Everyone then stands around waving their arms about, shouting orders, and generally getting into a state. |
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Fortunately, Stasa is at hand. She makes sure everyone has a seat for the Paella.
However, Stasa is very strict. You must take off your hat before you address her, or she'll give you a crummy seat right in the sun, next to a fat lady with a bad case of wind.
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And of course there's the old hands. Making sure that things are being done in that time-honoured way.
They may have lost the battle over hem-lines, but they're having no Australian wine here, thank you very much! |
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And, of course, you have to have a judges table. You can't have a village fête without prizes, and you can't have prizes without a judges table.
I lost the list of competitions while I was having my champagne breakfast this morning. But one of the prizes is for the best painting of the plaza. Won last year by the multi-talented editor of the Barcelona Review, Mr Gary Smout. |
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| But today the most important person is the cook. And despite all the hoopla going on he gets to work right away. |
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