Correfoc

Date: 25 Septiembre 2011. Correfoc. Part of the Catalan festival, La Mercè. The city went crazy that weekend, and this was a particularly insane evening. Correfoc means "fire run" in Catalán, and the tradition involves, quite literally, running in and through and under fire. I didn't realize what I was in for, and I was a bit unsettled when we arrived to find swarms of people with scarves covering their whole faces in protection. Participants dress in costume, create floats (dragons are common) for the parade. First there are fireworks above an arch. Then, one group at a time, they begin drumming and run through the arch, lighting their creations on fire. We were close enough that we had to duck as fire exploded right above us, and there were a few minor casualties -- a burn mark in a shirt, a blister -- among us. Mercè!

One of the floats. 

 Lighting floats on fire.

Els corredors!