Penedes Agenda December / Christmas 2011

December 4
Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf); Auditori Eduard Toldrà
Family Performance: Pau. La vida de Pau Casal
By: Forani Teatre
Read more in Catalan

December 6
Spain
Public holiday: Constitution Day - Dia de la Constitució Espanyola

December 8
Spain
Public holiday: Dia de la Puríssima Concepció

December 8
Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès)
Acrobatic human towers: Gran actuació d’aniversari de falcons
Falcons de Vilafranca
Read more in Catalan

December 11
Sitges (Garraf)
Christmas concert: Concert de Nadal
Read more in Catalan

December 17-18
Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès)
Trade Fair: Fira del Gall
The "rooster fair" - an annual trade fair with sales of poultry and related food.
Read more in Catalan

December 18
Sitges (Garraf)
Sardana performance: Ballada de Sardanes amb la Cobla Contempòrània
Read more in Catalan

December 18
Sitges (Garraf)
Christmas concert: Concert de Nadal
Read more in Catalan

December 18
Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès)
Concert: Els grans del Gospel
Gospel Concert - part of the Project
By: FOCUS - Followers of Christ Upholding Standard
Read more in Catalan

December 18
Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès)
Christmas concert: Concert de Nadal
By: Coral de L'Espinguet
Read more in Catalan

December 20
Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès)
Ballet: the Swan Lake
By: the Moscow Ballet
Read more in Catalan

December 25
Sitges (Garraf)
Traditional Christmas Concert: Tradicional Concert de Nadal
Read more in Catalan

December 25
Spain
Public holiday: Christmas Day

December 25
Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès)
Christmas Concert: Concert de Nadal
By: La Principal de la Bisbal
Read more in Catalan

December 26
Catalonia
Public holiday: Dia de Sant Esteve
Read more in Catalan

December 26
Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf); Auditori Eduard Toldrà
Concert: Concert de Sant Esteve
By: Orquestra de Cambra del Garraf
Read more in Catalan

December 26
Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès)
Concert: Tradicional Concert d'Orgue de Sant Esteve
Church Organ
Read more in Catalan

December 28
Catalonia
Traditions: The Catalan version of April Fools’ Day: Dia dels Sants Innocents
Read more in Catalan

December 28
Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf); Auditori Eduard Toldrà
Concert: De Broadway al Paral·lel
By: l’Orquestra de Cadaqués and Nina
Read more in Catalan

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The Penedès Agenda is a collection of events which I recommend to foreigners (expats or tourists) who want to explore Penedès or events which I consider important from a – highly subjective – international perspective. It is biased towards the comarca Garraf (Vilanova i la Geltrú and Sitges) but also covers Alt Penedès, Baix Penedès and Anoia.

The agenda posts are up-dated whenever I learn about new things. To the greatest extent possible will I link back to official pages for information on time and locations and cannot guarantee the correctness of the data presented. Feel free to inform me about events which you think would fit in here, either by writing a comment or contacting me on twitter: @wirdheim

CiU and Southern European fiscal responsibility

A slightly peculiar aspect of Swedish political correctness which I have discovered only during the ongoing financial crisis is that while it would not at all be acceptable to argue that immigrants living in Sweden are too lazy for hard work, it is perfectly legitimate to write that Southern Europeans might not have the intention to be responsible for their national finances. And while Angela Merkel’s resistance to Euro bonds angers José Manuel Barroso and Nicolas Sarkozy, she can count on strong support – occasionally bordering admiration – in Swedish media. Most Swedes share the German voters’ lack of trust that the Euro countries now facing financing problems will in the end adopt tough savings and reform programs. We clearly live in times when the old prejudice (?) that Northern Europe is industrious and thrifty, while the Southern part prefers fiesta and siesta, is growing stronger and stronger.

With this as a background you might understand why I was so positively surprised with the Catalan results in the Spanish general elections. While the absolute majority for PP was a signal that the whole of Spain sees the need for change, the way you voted here went one step further. For the first time ever did CiU become the biggest political party in Catalonia, although the last year with this force ruling the Generalitat has been dominated by budget cuts. I mean, how many times have we not seen protests against the closing of primary care units or even big demonstrations and strikes among health care workers (the latest one just a few days before last Sunday)?

Given this situation, you could have all opted for PP and thereby expressed your discontent with how the socialists have governed Spain while at the same time signaling that CiU has been too brutal in cleaning up after the Tripartit. However, you did not. Of the 47 Catalan seats in the Spanish parliament, CiU will now hold 16, up from 10 (!). (PSC will hold 14 (-11!) and PP 11 (+3). Even here in our “red” Vilanova i la Geltrú did 28,37% of the electorate vote for CiU compared with 19,93% in 2008.

As I see it, you demonstrated your understanding that CiU does what needs to be done - you voted for the change to continue (Mai millor dit! Ping: PSC Vilanova i la Geltrú)! That was an encouraging confirmation that at least one little part of Southern Europe is committed to fiscal responsibility. I promise to do my best to convey that message to my fellow Swedes.

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Interesting media links:

CAT - Ara: Eleccions 220-N, dades
CAT - Ara: Boi Ruiz obre la porta a una nova retallada a Salut en plena vaga
GER - Handelsblatt: Merkel ist kein Bond-Girl
SPA - Expansión: Rajoy debe mirar a Barcelona y entenderse con Mas
SWE - Dagens Nyheter: Euroobligationer: Barroso gapar över mycket

Let’s celebrate PP’s absolute majority – “de moment”…

I certainly do not think it is fair of the world’s financial market to be as tough as they are on Spain right now. True, Mariano Rajoy and his PP team have not yet started to take measures, but the elections where they saw their historic victory were only last Sunday. If you ask me, I am confident that they will make the economy one of their strongest disciplines, especially so since they reached the desired absolute majority (186 of 350 seats in the “congreso”!) and therefore do not depend on any other party when they finally start implementing the many reforms which Zapatero and PSOE, unfortunately, spent so much time delaying.

My interpretation is that the people of Spain have voted PP well aware that will result in big austerity cuts and increases of fees and taxes. True, when that happens some of you will protest that Rajoy did not give you all details before the elections, but that is not serious. We all knew and we all know what will come. Those of you who, within shortly, will show your anger in the streets did not vote PP in the first place, and those who did were not exactly dreaming about more public libraries - not even airports, this time around. ;)

Then I hear that many of you now worry about what a strong PP government will mean for Catalonia and our Catalan language, but I, for one, do not. True, I moved here only in 2005, so I have never lived in a Spain ruled by the “conservatives”, but let us be realistic: four years are a very short time! And the coming four years will - in the best case - be marked by a burdensome recuperation from the deep crisis in which Catalonia and the rest of Spain have already sunk so deep. Here the Catalan branch of PP is totally right: Spain cannot recover without Catalonia, just as Catalonia cannot recover without Spain. Whatever long term vision you might have for this country, for now we have to accept that economies which are totally intertwined have to support each other - to do the opposite would be only counterproductive.

As you might understand, thanks to PP’s victory I have again started to feel hopeful about the future and – as strange as it will seem to some of you – the main reason lies in their Spanish patriotism. I mean, you cannot have missed how many times the party’s representatives repeat that “!España es un gran país¡” (Spain is a great country!) whenever they have the opportunity. Change ‘Spain’ for ‘Greece’ and proclaim that phrase in my native Sweden, and you will see how people react.

Rajoy will never want to see foreigners laughing at Spain, as we now all do at any sign of Greek national pride. The absolute majority has given him the perfect conditions to demonstrate what a strong, democratically elected, government can achieve when acting fast and radically, in contrast with countries ruled by broad coalitions or technocrats. May PP surprise the world and show that Spain is different – for a start – and even great! Why not?

So, join me and celebrate PP’s absolute majority! – “de moment”…

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More or less related links:

ENG - BBC Video: Spain’s conservatives celebrate landslide victory
SPA - (Provisional) Official election results: Ministerio del Interior
SPA - LaVanguardia: Mariano, échanos algo
SPA - El Mundo: La prima de riesgo de España, al alza, y la Bolsa, a la baja

Penedès News in a different format

Penedès News has been one of the main pillars in the editorial line of this blog for the last few months and the time has come to evaluate the results. By now, I consider that I have been running project long enough to make conclusions and decide on adaptations.

The only interaction I have been able to stimulate with Penedès News – above all on Twitter, but sometimes also on Facebook – has been with posts either related to the individual towns (above all Vilanova i la Geltrú, for obvious reasons) or companies, organizations and networks. As far as I can see, there is no community which takes an active interest in having news from Penedès as a totality or not even from the four comarques as such presented in English.

On top of this, the interaction I have seen with Penedès News is much inferior to what I have experienced with my more recent but increasing focus on posts on human towers, #castellers. Here I regularly get feedback, on the one hand from the individual teams and on the other from people who have a more global or general interest in this cultural expression.

I have started to feel that, most likely, there is no real demand for having local Penedès news explained in English. However, at the same time, I know that there is a need for news filtering - as a service to the expats living here, but also for tourists. As a consequence, Penedès News will continue to exist but – at least for now – be transferred to my personal Twitter account, @Wirdheim. Here I will present the news as headlines in English but link to original sources in Catalan and Spanish. The most important of these tweets will then, once a month, be summarized in the newsletter Penedès in English.

The other content part of Penedès in English – the Penedès agenda – will not be affected by these changes. And as to what will come instead, here on the blog, I am not really sure. Maybe it is time to start experimenting again... ;)

Vilanova’s 'Fira de Novembre' boosts local business

The sunny weather during the weekend certainly helped a bit, but the new location and format of the traditional November trade fair in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf) – this year held November 11-13 – has proved to be highly attractive. In spite of the crisis, all space had been contracted and this time the line of stands followed the local Rambles all the way down to the marina – an initiative which made the exhibition less crowded but at the same time encouraged the visitors to reach new parts of the city centre.

In connection with Fira de Novembre, the shop keepers of the town – coordinated through the association Viu Comerç – extended their Friday evening opening hours to midnight in a so called Vilanova Shopping Night and on the Sunday, the traditional Xatonada popular was housed in plaça de la Mediterrània; all of a sudden perfectly integrated with the rest of the trade fair. As always, there were performances by sport clubs and cultural entities but also attempts to make people connect in new ways, for example #LlescaTwit – a physical meeting point for Vilanova’s twitter enthusiasts.

Fira de Novembre in its current form has existed for 21 years, but can be traced back to the year 1381, when Vilanova (not yet united with la Geltrú) was granted the right to hold a fair during the first fifteen days of November.

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Read more in Catalan: Vilanova Digital and Diari de Vilanova (1, 2)

'Minyons de l’Arboç' and 'Jove de Vilafranca' end the season with nice human towers

The Diada de la Colla which Bordegassos de Vilanova organised on November 13, did not become the success the team had hoped for, but the two guest teams partly compensated for that and offered the spectators in plaça de les Cols of Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf) a few nice surprises.



Minyons de l’Arboç achieved the best results this day by completing 5de7, 3de7 and 4de7 plus – for the first time ever – two pillars of five levels (Pde5) built at the same time. They thereby rounded off an emotionally difficult season on a strong note.

Colla Jove Xiquets de Vilafranca completed 3de7, 4de7 and Pde5 but also presented the world of castellers with a totally new construction: 7de6 dismantled via two pillars (7de6a). However, the 5de7 - which they had hoped to build for the first time collapsed before crowning.

Bordegassos de Vilanova, finally, had managed to mobilize a lot of the team’s sporadic or former members, but this time it was of no use, since the children (la canalla) were too scared to crown the most challenging human towers. The attempts to build 2de7 and 4de8 ended in as many as four constructions dismantled before crowning (intents desmuntats) so the final result was only 3de7 and 4de7.

But as one of the senior members of the team put it: “We can’t be disappointed with these children. It’s thanks to them we have such a great season behind us, especially the second half!”

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Read more in Catalan: the web page of Bordegassos

MOST - the Penedès Wine and Cava Film Festival – is here to stay

During the days November 10-13 – and coinciding with the European Day of Wine Tourism – Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès) housed the first edition of MOST – a festival dedicated to films related to wine and cava. The organizors are very content with the event and have already started to plan for next year. Among the Collita 2011 (“Harvest 2011”) awards handed out, the jury prize went to David Maye for "Maye et fils", Fred Florey with "Les saisons de Marie Thèrése Chappaz", got the prize for the best documentary film while "Lingo vino", by Daniel Texter was selected the best fiction movie.

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Read more in Catalan: El 3 de Vuit

Calafell will not receive a new public library

Due to budget cuts, there will not be a new municipal library in Calafell (Baix Penedès). The former municipal government (PSC, ERC and ADMC) planned to house it on the second floor of the new fresh food market, of which the construction work has recently begun. However, the now ruling coalition (CiU and PP) will not go ahead with the project, since reservations have only been made for just over half of the € 1,3 million it would cost.

The fresh food market will have 35 stands and is financed by the chain Mercadona which, in return, will hold the concession to operate a supermarket in half of the building.

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Read more in Catalan: El Punt / Avui

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I am not particularly happy with my Baix Penedès headline picture. If you know a place from where I can take a nice panorama picture, please, let me know.

ADIF puts up safety fence in Botigues de Sitges

ADIF - the Spanish authority responisble for railway infrastructure - has just started to put up a 2,2m high safety fence along the tracks from the train station Platja de Castelldefels to Port Ginesta, Botigues de Sitges (Garraf). The work is expected to be finished before the end of the year.

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Read more in Spanish: ABC

Vilafranca lodges administrative dispute with ADIF regarding noice levels

Ever since the highspeed train (AVE) service started to operate on the railway lines going through Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès) there have been severe complaints about noise. Now Mayor Pere Regull (CiU) has announced that he will lodge an administrative dispute with ADIF, the Spanish authourity responsable for railway infrastructure.

On the one hand, the ajuntament of Vilafranca wants for ADIF to reduce the noise in the non-covered parts of the track area, where it is still 13 decibels above the legal norms. On the other hand, it demands that the covered area – to which the local authorities do not yet have access – is cleant up since it looks like a deserted constructions site.

The AVE goes through but does not stop in Vilafranca. Pere Regull admits that the formal dispute is above all aimed at putting pressure on ADIF. A court ruling on the matter could possibly clarify ADIF’s responsibilities, but it will take negotiations to achieve a solution which does not only meet legal minimums but is also good for the town from an urbanistic perspective.

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Read more in Catalan (el 3 de Vuit) and Spanish (ABC).

Dolce Sitges wins Condé Nast Johansens Award for best MICE hotel for large groups

I have already informed you that Dolce Sitges Hotel had been nominated in the category for Excellence in MICE (meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibitions/events) among establishments with more than 100 rooms in the 2012 Condé Nast Johansens Awards, so I am now happy to be able to announce that they actually won it.

Dolce Hotel overlooks the rest of Sitges from the hills to the west of the town. It was opened in 2004 and has 263 guest rooms, 39 meeting rooms plus an amphitheatre, a spa area, four restaurants and three bars.

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Read more in Spanish: Europapress

'Bordegassos' and 'Saballuts' complete the human tower 4de8 in Terrassa

Sunday October 6 was a day for which the weather forecasts predicted rain all around Catalonia, so also in Terrassa (Vallès Occidental) where Castellers de Terrassa planned for their final human tower exhibition this year. Since not only they themselves, but also their guests, were looking forward to their Diada de la Colla, from the very beginning did they have the partly covered square Vapor Ventalló as a back up solution for the day.



Due to a more or less consant drizzle, this is also where the human towers were built in the end. Castellers de Terrassa had hoped to find the form and be able to build 4de8, but in the end had to make do with completing 2de7, 5de7 and 4de7a.



The most stable guests, Castellers de Sabadell (Saballuts), completed 5de7 and 2de7 but, above all their 15th 4de8 of a season when they – a team which became colla de vuit (a team which regularly builds human towers of 8 levels) as late as two years ago - have been among the strongest ones in this group.

The other guests, Bordegassos de Vilanova, did not have any trouble completeing 2de7 but saw their 5de7(i) collapsing without having been crowned. However, most importantly, the team completed their 2nd 4de8 this year and now away from home. True, this happened after one intent desmuntat (a construction dismantled before being crowned) and long preparations, but the end result felt so controlled that the team decided to make an attempt also with 3de8(id). This construction was dismantled before crowning, but that does not really matter for a team which has been anything but stable this year, but are going through an amazing spurt now at the end of the season.

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To live the positive spiral of Bordegassos de Vilanova "from the inside" is a wonderful feeling. In Terrassa, amazingly enough, I had the honour to be one of eight primers laterals in the 4de8. This time I certainly did not get the position neither for my qualities as casteller nor by necessity, but primarily for solidarity reasons. For the future, however, I will work hard to make it mine.

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Read more: Web Casteller, El Punt / Avui plus the web pages of Bordegassos and Saballuts.

Alt Penedès and Garraf now officially 'Costa de Barcelona'

Four comarques to the north east and south west of Barcelona are now officially united under the tourism brand Costa de Barcelona (the Coast of Barcelona) – a measure intended to streamline and reinforce the marketing activities of these destinations, above all on the international level. The decision was taken by Agència Catalana de Turisme after pressure from business groups and a general insight that Catalonia has tried to promote itself with two many different names.

This means that the earlier names Costa de Barcelona – Maresme (used in the comarca Maresme) and Costa del Garraf (used in the comarques Alt Penedès, Baix Llobregat and Garraf) will disappear. The other eight tourism brands used in Catalonia are Costa Brava, (the city of) Barcelona, Costa Daurada, Terres de l’Ebre, Terres de Lleida, Catalunya Central, Val d’Aran and Pirineus.

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Read more in Spanish: Hosteltur (1, 2) and ABC

'Sant Narcís' to remember for 'Marrecs' and 'Capgrossos', but not so for 'Minyons'

The northern parts of Catalonia do not have many traditional exhibitions in human towers but one of the few exceptions is the one held in connection with the Sant Narcís trade fair of Girona. One of the great teams which usually comes here are Minyons de Terrassa and this year, on October 30, they wanted to end the season with a major success – the monster constructions 3de10fm (gamma extra) which they are the only team to ever have completed and both times at home, in Terrassa (1998 and 2002).

The latest training sessions had given them every reason to think this was possible. However, although the assembly in the square went very well, the top children did not feel convinced and the big construction had to be dismantled before being crowned (intent desmuntat). After this difficult start, Minyons completed 3de9f and, later on, 2de8f but when, in between, they attempted to build 5de9f (gamma extra) they saw it collapsing before the crowning of its second part. For this team, the day was marked by deception and I guess they did not feel better when – three days later - Castellers de Vilafranca managed to crown 3de10fm.

The other teams, for their part, will remember Sant Narcís 2011 in bright colours. Capgrossos de Mataró completed 2de8f, 3de9f and 4de9f – in fact the same human towers which they then repeated in Vilafranca during Tots Sants.

The local team, Marrecs de Salt, has had a fantastic season (already before Sant Narcís had they recuperated 4de8, a human tower which they had not been successful with since 2002) and they ended it in the same way – by completeting 4de8 (their third one in 2011), 2de7 and 5de7.

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Read more in Catalan: Diari de Girona and Web Casteller plus a press release by Minyons de Terrassa.

'Diada del Roser' – a great day for 'Xicots' and guests

Xicots de Vilafranca - the second team of human tower builders in Vilafranca del Penedès - have had a difficult season, not the least since quite a few of its former members now make up the core of the third team, Colla Jove Xiquets de Vilafranca, of this relatively small town. Having said that, during Diada del Roser, on October 30, Xicots managed to round off this year in the best possible way: by completing 4de8 and 2de7 and, on top of that, their first 7de7 ever.

Their two guest teams had every reason to be happy, they as well. Castellers de Barcelona completed 2de8f, 3de8, 4de8 and, in the round of pillars, their first pde6 since 2009. Moixiganguers d’Igualada repeated the results of their most successful exhibition 2011; they completed 4de8, 3de7s and 5de7, but this time away from home and, on top of that, all on the first attempt.

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Read more in Catalan: el Punt /Avui and Web Casteller

Female strength in Bellprat (Anoia)

With less than 100 inhabitants, Bellprat (Anoia) is the smallest municipality in Penedès, and its claim to fame is that it was here, during the so called second republic in 1934, Natividad Yarza Planas (ERC) became the first democratically voted female mayor in the Catalan speaking part of the world. To commemorate this personality, on October 30, there was quite a different exhibition of human towers, where only women were allowed to take part in the stem – el tronc.

The most advanced construction of the day – 4de7 - was completed by Xiquetes de la Jove de Valls, who also completed 7de6 and 2de6. Les dones de Castellers de Vilafranca completed 3de6, 4de6a and 2de6. Les dones de Castellers de Sants completed 5de6, 4de6a and 3de6s and – if I understand it all correctly – they were the only team which had not only the stems but also the bases (pinya) of their human towers made up exclusively by women.

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Read more in Catalan: el Punt / Avui

Heavy rain causes flooding in Igualada and Òdena

The autumn rains are here and on November 3 they were especially heavy in the central parts of Catalonia. During one hour (between 7:00 and 8:00) parts of Anoia registered as much as 40 L/m2 and firefighters had to rescue a few drivers stuck in their cars and business owners whose warehouses had beed flooded. The worst consequences were registered in Barri del Rec and the industrial park les Comes of Igualada plus in some areas of neighbouring Òdena.

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Read more in Catalan: Anoia Diari

Castellers de Vilafranca crown the two most difficult human towers

According to the score rules of the biannual Concurs de Castells in Tarragona, the most difficult human towers to complete are, first, 2de9f (i.e. with an additional support structure on the second level - folre (f) - but not on the third one - manilles (m)) and, second, 3de10fm and precisely these two constructions are what Castellers de Vilafranca managed to crown (carregar) but not complete (descarregar) during their Diada de la Colla, celebrated on November 1, Tots Sant, as of tradition.



The first success of the day came with 3de10fm(c) when it was crowned on the second attempt (the first one collapsed before crowning). It was the 7th time ever Verds managed to carregar this human tower. (Since it was not completed, Minyons de Terrassa remain the only team to ever have done so with 3de10fm, and that on two occasions, 1998 and 2002.) On the other hand, the most unique construction of the exhibition this day, 2de9f(c), had only been crowned once before in casteller history – by Castellers de Vilafranca themselves, but back in 2005.

In the third round - with three collapsing castells fresh in mind - the team decided to not attempt building 4de9 (net, without folre) but opted for the more stable 5de9f – a construction which they themselves had only crowned this year, while Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls, so far, was the only team to have completed it. This time the construction was completed and when adding the score for this - their third gamma extra human tower of the day - to the earlier rounds, Verds achieved their best result of the season 2011 which in turn is their best season ever.

In the same exhibition, Xiquets de Tarragona was the second best team and completed a magic triplet of human towers usually reserved for the absolutely best teams; 5de8, 4de9f and 3de9f.



Capgrossos de Mataró also proved to be in great shape and completed the clàssica de nou; 4de9f, 3de9f and 2de8f.

Castellers de Sants, the fourth team, also they had reasons to celebrate: they completed 5de8 and 4de8 but, most importantly, crowned their first human tower of nine levels this season; 3de9f(c).

The total exhibition here in the plaça de la Vila of Vilafranca del Penedès (Catalonia’s number one square for human towers – la plaça més castellera), lasted for five hours and it is estimated that up to the moment when Verds managed with the 3de10(c), there were almost 10.000 spectators present in the square. It is also worth mentioning that on the occasion Verds had called in special support troops to reinforce the base – pinya - of the castells in the form of the rugby team Santboiana.

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Read more in Catalan – el 3 de Vuit, el Punt / Avui (1, 2) and Tot Mataró – and Spanish – el Periódico