Friday 17 April 2009

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

5 comments:

natalia said...

For those of you interested in Gegants, there is another book that has just been published:

Presentació del conte

Quants anys feu, gegants?

Dilluns 20 d'abril de 2009 a les 19 h. a la Biblioteca Joan Oliva (Pl. de la Vila, 13)
Amb la participació dels autors: Marta Minella i Sebastià Serra, i la Colla de Geganters de Vilanova.

Vilanova i la Geltrú, abril '09

natalia said...

I am not an expat (I am from Barcelona), but I have been one (I lived 4 years abroad), and I am married to one (my "media naranja" is German).

That's why I appreciate a lot your blog. I have been reading it for a while, and today I felt inspired to comment for the first time.

Great job, Erik !

Erik Wirdheim said...

Natalia,

Thanks for your commenting, thanks for encouraging me and thanks for the information on the book reading.

Special thanks for telling me at what time the reading takes place, something (and this still fascinates because it's not the first time it happens) our local print newspaper manages to leave out.

I will be there. You'll recognize me by my two blond sons.

//Erik

natalia said...

Erik, I couldn't make it to the presentation, and that was too bad, because the authors are friends of mine.

I'll get to know you some other day. I'll keep watching for 2 blond boys :-)

Erik Wirdheim said...

Natalia,

We wouldn't have seen each other even if you had been here - there were simply too many people. I was so impressed.

Your friend's book is really nice. I'll make an entry about it as soon as I find the time...

//Erik