Tuesday 2 June 2009

The 'Wirdheim in Vilanova' Event Calendar - July 2009

July, 3-5; Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf): La Medusa organises the music festival Faraday on the platja del Far. Among the bands which will play we find The Divine Comedy, The Lucksmiths, Joe Crepúsculo and New Raemon. On July 5, the concerts will be on the beach and for free.

July, 3-5; Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès): Vijazz – Catalonia’s main wine and jazz festival.

July, 10; Cunit (Baix Penedès): Festa Major de Sant Cristófol

July 10; Vilanova i la Geltrú; Sardana dancing at the Ermita de Sant Cristòfol, behind the Platja de Far. 19:00-21:00

July, 11-12; La Granada (Alt Penedès); Festa Major - most likely with a high profile castellers meeting.

July, 14; Sitges (Garraf): A day of Dance (Dies de Dansa): 19:00-21:30 at la Fragata.

July, 17-19; Vilanova i la Geltrú; FIMPT – the International Folk and Traditional Music Festival (Festival internacional de música popular i tradicional) - with Diego el Cigala and Omara Portuondo among the most famous artists.

July, 17-24; Cubelles (Garraf): Festival de Música de Cubelles. A music festival, organized for the first time, targeting children, young people and their families.

July, 25-28; El Vendrell (Baix Penedès): Festa Major Santa Anna 2009; N.B: in the city, not at the beaches. Find here a glossary to typical festa major related words in Catalan. Look out for this: Saturday July 25: Fireworks at 23:00. Sunday July 26: At 11:00, Catalan folkdances at the Plaça Vella followed by a parade (cercavila) through the town. At 13:30, Castells (human towers) at the Plaça Vella, organized by the Nens del Vendrell. At 21:15, A typically Catalan Fire Parade (Cercavila de Foc) with loads of firespitting monsters, among them Caramot - one of the biggest dragons in Europe. The parade ends with a carretillada - all teams performing at the same time! Monday July 27: At 18:00, Catalan Folkdances (balls populars) at the Plaça Nova followed by a parade through the town. Tuesday July 28: At 19:00, havaneres songs followed by a glass of burnt rum at the Rambla. At 19:00, 20:00 and 21:00: Ball de Malcasats at three different locations.

July 25-31; The Festa Major Petita of Cubelles. Find here a pdf-version of the program, complete with maps, and here a glossary to typical festa major related words in Catalan. I would recommend the following: Saturday July 25: At 21:45, a firerun (correfoc) with devils and monsters. Put on old clothes and cover your hair in case you want to feel the real spirit. Sunday July 26: At 18:00, a giant procession through the town and at 22:30, havaneres at the plaça del Centre Social. Thursday July 30: At 20:30, a drummers parade (batucada) through the town.

July 25; A competition between tradtional fishing boats (llaguts) from Vilanova, Calafell and Torredembarra; at 11:00 in front of the marine sports rental service (Estació Nàutica) on the beach Ribes Roges.

July, 26; Vilafranca del Penedès: ‘Vilafranca and the Wine Spirit’ – a guided tour (assumedly in Catalan) to places related to the wine industry.

July, 26; Vilanova i la Geltrú: At 19:00, Castells (human towers) by the Bordegassos at the Rambla Principal. At 21:00, havaneres at the Plaça de les Neus.

July, 29 - August, 6; Festa Major of Vilanova i la Geltrú. The main part of the program will be presented in the August edition of the event calendar, but here are my recommendations for July: Wednesday July, 29: At 20:00 a huge Catalan flag (la senyera) will be hung from the Sant Antoni Abat church bell tower - much more exciting than it sounds. At 22:00 there will be a concert of havaneres, finished with a glass of burnt rum at the Plaça del Port. Thursday July, 30: From 17:00 to 21:00, a kite flying exhibition on the beach Ribes Roges. From 22:15, the local castellers els Bordegassos will practise (assaig) in their premises in the Plaça de les Casernes. Friday July, 31: From 11:00 to 13:00, a chance to climb up the church bell tower of Sant Antoni Abat and see the town from above. At 19:00 in the Plaça Mediterrània, there will be a concert for children by the musicians from Catalan TV3's Club Súper 3. From 20:00 to 22:00, there will be a balloon festival on the beach Ribes Roges. From 22:00 and onwards, the most emblematic July event of Vilanova's Festa Major: the Correfoc - devils and firesipitting dragons dancing through the streets, from the Plaça de les Neus to the Plaça de la Vila. In case you plan to participate, make sure to put on old clothes and cover your hair.

Exhibitions:

'El laberint i la vida'; exhibition by Òscar Estruga at LaSala.

'Giants from Museums' at the Victor Balaguer Museum, Vilanova i la Geltrú. The Vilanova giants celebrate their 300th anniversary – this exhibition shows other old Catalan giants. From July 18 to August 1.

'Photos of the Giants of Vilanova' at the Sala Toc (C/ Caputxins), Vilanova i la Geltrú. From July 25 to August 9.

General information:

The event calendar is a presentation of events where I will go - or at least hope to be able to go - centered around Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf) and the rest of the Penedès area in Catalonia. If you are interested in a certain date, please, send me a question in a comment or, alternatively, come back to this entry. It will be up-dated whenever I learn about new things and here information about what will happen tends to come late.

Wirdheim in Vilanova will to the greatest extent possible refer to official pages (usually in Catalan) for information on the time and location of events and can unfortunately not guarantee to present the latest up-dates or changes of program.

For castellers (human tower) performances outside the Penedès area, please, refer to the tag Agenda Castellera at the Coordinadora de les Colles Castelleres de Catalunya, or the Calendari at LaMalla.cat/castellers.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Garraf, Penedès, el Vendrell, Vilanova

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