Vilanova’s Giants 300 Years Old

All Catalan towns have one or more couples of Giants which are being carried around in dances during festivities. In our town, the geganters (those who perform inside and around the giants but also take care of their preservation) have three pairs in total - two from Vilanova and one from la Geltrú.

The so called gegant de la porra and his wife happen to be some of the tallest giants in Catalonia. To honour that 300 years have passed since they were first mentioned in writing, the ajuntament has sponsored a new edition of the book Llibre dels gegants i demés entremesos populars de Vilanova i la Geltrú (Albert Ferrer and Antoni Anguera, 1964). Thanks to a recommendation from the team behind the radio program Gaudeix la Festa (Canal Blau), did I not miss the presentation of it, and those of you who know me will not be surprised that I bought a copy.

I am happy that we still have three months to go before the festa season reaches its peak in the late summer. This book will definitely be a source of inspiration for new entries and a great tool for improving the quality of those already written, among other things the festa major wordlist.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Festa, Festa Major, Vilanova