Aleix Salellas has been busy for days with the decorations for the Festa Major de Gràcia. His father, Albert, and his younger brother, Guim, are also busy, but not all on the same street: the sons, in Progrés; the father, in Plaça de la Vila, which the Castellers de la Vila de Gracia adorn every year. Aleix and Guim have been decorating streets and squares since they were very young, and now, at 17 and 12 years old, they continue to do so. They are part of the hundreds of people who give continuity to a tradition that began decades ago, and that continues to evolve in a Gràcia that, before being a neighborhood, was a vila, and before being a vila, a sparsely populated territory, dependent on Barcelona.
The tradition has its roots in that Gràcia that was not yet Gràcia. The first documented human presence in the neighborhood dates back 400 years, to the Convent dels Josepets, of which only the church that presides over the current Lesseps square remains standing. The convent was built under the patronage of the Virgin Mary of Gràcia, and the name ended up spreading to the surrounding territory. At that time, the friars of the convent celebrated the main festival in March, but another order that arrived in the neighborhood almost 200 years later began to shift the calendar: the Franciscans, who settled near what is now the Jardinets de Gràcia, celebrated the Feast of the Assumption, on August 15. “In 1817, a meeting was held and the festival gained strength, as a summer festival,” explains the president of the Taller d'Història de Gràcia, Josep Maria Contel.
A few years later, starting in 1835, the situation took a turn. The effects of the first Carlist War and Mendizábal's disentailment reached the neighborhood —then still dependent on Barcelona—. Gràcia loses its two convents: the Franciscan convent was dissolved, and that of the Josepets remained as a church with the Order of Discalced Carmelites diluted. It is here when the parishioners of the Parish of Santa Maria de Gràcia, who celebrated the Assumption in August, “begin to move and end up turning the festivity into the main festival of the neighborhood.”
Meanwhile, the territory continued to be part of Barcelona, but the insistence of the residents and prominent citizens of Gràcia eventually led to the constitution of the independent municipality on July 6, 1850, a few days before the main festival. It is at this moment that a reference to the origin of the decorated streets is documented for the first time: the new City Council, established on an upper floor, invites residents to decorate facades and balconies. In 1862, in the Diari de Barcelona, a second mention of the guarnits appears. Then, however, they were very different from the current ones: they were mainly floral motifs, often commissioned from florists. “All this was influenced by Corpus Christi, with streets decorated for the procession to pass through,” Contel explains.
The decorations (and the festival) evolved, with upheavals such as the Cuban War, the Tragic Week, and the Civil War. With Franco's death, “people wanted to reclaim the streets and reclaim the festival,” and shortly after, a street was decorated again for the first time, by Verdi del Mig. “In 1979 there were many more streets, and the movement grew. During the 90s it gained more momentum, with increasingly powerful decorations.”
And it is that, to the floral motifs, creativity and craftsmanship were added. “Over time, Gràcia had many skilled people in the streets, such as bricklayers, plasterers, or carpenters,” who began to contribute with their techniques. Later, other profiles gained weight, such as designers, as Contel highlights: “Very creative proposals began to emerge; a spiral was generated where everyone wanted to participate, and win.” He refers to the decorated street awards, which began to be given out before the Civil War. “A competition is generated, but it is a friendly competition,” Albert Salellas defends.
This is how it breathes within the Salellas family itself: Albert adorns the Plaça de la Vila with the castellers —the only colla of popular culture that has a reserved space to decorate—, while Aleix years ago opted for Progrés; although he doesn't live there, since 2021 it was for several friendships. Guim first went to another street, and since 2023 he went with his older brother to Progrés. This also represents a change regarding the origin of the tradition: you don't have to be from a street to adorn it. "Everyone decides which street they want to be on," Aleix remarks.
This friendly competition, this year has gone a step further: for the first time, five streets have agreed on the theme. One of them is precisely Progrés and, the chosen theme, The Lord of the Rings. "The proposal came out of a friendly dinner between streets, and so it has been done," Aleix details. They are, in addition to Progrés, the streets of Libertat, Tordera and Fraternidad de Dalt and de Baix, which will become different scenarios of Middle-earth during the festivities.
Thus, what the tradition generates goes beyond decorations: "The guarnit is popular culture, it is making vila," Albert claims. And all this arrives long before the party begins with the proclamation: "The main festival is already these previous days, where you meet your neighbors, chat, prepare," Albert emphasizes along with Aleix and Guim, very involved in popular culture from different fields, from bastoners to popular bestiary, passing through castellers, some in Vila de Gràcia and others in Sagrada Família.
In this way, as Contel adds, adorning the streets represents "a very important social aspect" for the neighborhood: "It facilitates the integration of all kinds of people; it is a facilitator of interculturality and interrelation." Hundreds of people are involved in decorating the streets to make the Festa Major de Gràcia one of the most emblematic in the city: "In the end, what the main festival is, is people meeting to make popular culture and ephemeral art, for people to enjoy it, and for people to meet."