Today we celebrate Saint Eulalia in Barcelona, which is the ex-patroness of the city. You might be wondering why she is no longer the patroness. Well the story is quite interesting. In 1687 Barcelona suffered a locust plague which damaged all their crops and was obviously causing many problems in the city. The citizens of Barcelona begged Santa Eulalia, their patroness at the time, to stop the plague, which did not happen. The 25th of September the Mercè convent set fire which gave the citizens the impressions that it was a sign from Saint Mercè the city-patroness. Therefore, they promised Saint Mercè she would become the patroness if she stopped the plague, and not long after, the plague stopped.
Today we still commemorate Santa Eulalia every 12th of February: museums are free, orchestras in the city center, ‘gegants’ (which I will explain on another post and markets among other activities.
The market was set up in front of the Barcelona Cathedral and wasn’t too big. At first I really though it would be a regular market but to my surprise it was more of a traditional market. There were many traditional Catalan products: candy, pastries, ceramic plates, honey and more.
You might be wondering why the candy stand is selling sticks, well it’s licorice in its purest form and it is quite popular here in Spain. Although I don’t bring a stick around with me I usually have a small box with pure licorice pieces in my purse.
Soaps
Ceramic plates
Honey
Coca, traditional pastry of Catalonia
I finally bought some almonds with honey and sugar, some traditional snacks from Catalonia. It is a pity because I forgot to take a photo before eating them all, but they were delicious.
