Saturday, October 10, some 400 devils (diables) and dragons (dracs) from all around Catalonia came to the small town Llorenç del Penedès (Tarragona) to stage a protest agains new regulations by the European Union which restrict the use of fire in public places. These do not show any sensitivity to the pyrotechnical traditions like correfocs and ball de diables, key elements of a typical Catalan festa major.
The event started with a parade (cercavila) through the historic town centre, followed by joint performance. When devils perform they usually wear thick protective clothes, but this time some of them were totally naked, to underline that their fire is not dangerous.
The diables nudistes has received a lot of attention in Catalan media and let us now hope that also our European politicians take notice. While it is highly correct for the EU to harmonize rules on safety there must be some space for flexibility for folklore traditions as historical and appreciated as this one.
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Related Media: (SPA) LaVanguardia; (CAT) Avui, El Punt
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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Festa Major, Penedès
1 comment:
Good luck to them.
I am sick of these nanny state rule makers in Brussels who have no regard for culture. As long as they get their little 'pet project' law passed, they are happy.
Visca el foc!
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