Actually, when we got off the metro at Las Ramblas, coming up the escalator was a harrowing experience. Upon reaching the top we encountered a rather large and stationary crowd watching a drum performance. This didn't help the stream of people coming off the escalator who didn't have a choice if as to their movement towards said non-moving crowd. This caused a bit of a backup and panick for a nanosecond, but a bit of old-fashioned pushing from the metro people made a quick path for escape and all was fine.
Anyway, after watching the drum procession, they moved down the street and since we had no idea what else to do, we followed. Good thing, because they were part of BAM, the Barcelona Independent Music Festival as part of the Merce 2002 festival that weekend. They paraded down to a small square, where this guy emerged in full costume along with a bunch of other wacky people. Interesting, I thought, as he lit a flare. In this photo he's rather shadowy, but he looks like a crow or other bird figure.
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Drummers up on a stage nearby
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Well, as more wacky looking people came onto the square, I decided we should move closer to the action. About this point all Hell breaks loose without warning and they all light fireworks on top of poles they're carrying. Of course this rather frightens the crowd which backs up significantly as to not catch on fire. Luckily my camera and myself survive this movement and I get close to the edge of the crowd to capture the costumed people with fireworks and small boy rather scared of the loud noises on the right.
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After their display, they moved down another side street and bird-guy stood to the side, here's a flash photo that kinda takes all the fear away from his appearance, but it gives you a better idea of the costume itself. Although without must light at the time, he did look kinda creepy.
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So we end up at the Cathedral square, where the main Barcelona cathedral sits. Here are some people sitting at the main Barcelona Cathedral.
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This is where the sinner thing enters into the picture. Now of course the announcer, dressed in rather official druid-like garments, spoke Spanish. But I do believe he was asking forgiveness for all involved and then something about demons. Couple this with the bird-guy from before and fireworks and some of the devil costumes and you've got something rather strange, but visually spectacular. After a rather lengthy announcement from the guy on stage, the fireworks parade started. I'd say about 12-15 groups of drummers and mainly fireworks people walked past. A group would have staffs of some kind with impaled fireworks capped off by, of all things, a clothes pin, to keep them from spinning off the top. Usuaully the combination was 4-5 sparky fireworks and one rather loud explosive firework.
Each time a new wave would come through, people that must have known this even was coming ran out to dance around the people with fireworks. I say they must have known about the event since most had cloths over their face and head to protect them from the sparks. Us regular non-devil-worshipping people on the sidelines who just wanted a few good photos had to live with the risk of a stray spark or two, but after a while it wasn't as frightening.
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Fireworks and crazy dancing people around them
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Godzilla is attacking the city in the background, but this guy has a cloth over his face, so he's pretty much prepared for the size of this monster.
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There were some drummers interspersed, but it was mostly fireworks
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See dumb dancing guy in front soon to be bald dumb dancing guy in front. Also see rude fireworks guy who intentionally steered close to the crowd just because we're scared of fire...silly us.
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Yet another dragon, this one obviously a female dragon.
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Reference strange dancing people above
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They do come in waves, lighting fireworks from a central one
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The tough thing is you've got to reload fireworks every block or so, this becomes tough when their parade route was probably 10-12 blocks at least. Here's a figure of the lizard in Park Guell, a famous Gaudi creation.
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A part of the Merce 2002 festival if I assume correctly. This was projected onto a wall near the cathedral.
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Yes, I like this photo quite a bit. I captured it as we tried to get out in front of the parade later on. You can see the devil horns on the person carrying the staff, but I doubt they're authentic. Also, see the strange person in black with outstretched hands to the right, I hope he wasn't counting on the shower of sparks to count instead of a daily bath/shower.
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Even more fireworks...bigger fireworks as we reached the metro station. In the foreground is a statue of Chris Columbus. There were larger fireworks after this, but you can only stand around so long waiting for another firework and we had our share after the parade...
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A quick detour to La Sagrada Familia at night since the light earlier in the morning hadn't been great
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But you REALLY want to be a saint you say? Well, back to La Sagrada then...