Corpus Christi, one of the oldest events on the Barcelona calendar of festivals and traditions, is returning to the city, filling it with flowers as well as cultural and recreational activities.  From 1 June, and with Corpus Christi Thursday on 8 June as the central date, floral decorations and ephemeral art will once again occupy a prime place on the city’s calendar. This year’s programme highlights its cultural side with a programme organised around the guilds and confraternities, involved from the start in a festival with over 700 years of history behind it in Barcelona (where it was first held in 1320) and declared a Heritage Festival of National Interest.

While faithful to its traditional spirit, the festival nonetheless keeps up to date with the times. The dancing egg, one of the most unique features of Corpus Christi in Barcelona, has had to adapt to the context of the climate emergency and drought decree. City associations have come up with several solutions to enable the festival to continue. Wherever there is no water, the egg will be static and integrated into the location’s floral decorations. Dancing eggs will be a possibility in fountains operating with a closed circuit, provided the water can be used for irrigation. In other cases, the dancing mechanism will be based on air rather than water.

There will also be talks, exhibitions, itineraries and other activities linked to the legacy of the city’s confraternities and guilds in keeping with the festival while keeping to its spirit, to mark the celebration of Corpus Christi in Barcelona. Notable initiatives will include a route created for self-guided tours of reference sites for historical footprints of the world of professional associations and the welfare side of city guilds.

Check out the programme and don’t miss out on any activity!