Lost in Spain: Sardanes in Squares

As we were walking around today enjoying our last hours in Barcelona, we kept coming across circles of older folk dancing outside of the Cathedral near La Rambla. I didn't take any pictures of this unfortunately, but I found this one online.

It was so sweet to watch, these groups of men and women, clasping hands and dancing what was clearly a traditional dance around piles of their bags. We saw a group of teenagers start doing what all teenagers do: mocking tradition. Until an older man, stepped forward and chastised them quite strongly. It was great, the kids just picked up their bags and suddenly became respectful again.

Anyway, I thought for sure it must be some kind of demonstration or special event, so when we got back to the hotel I asked guest reception what was going on. The woman at the front desk said that these dances, Sardanes, happen almost every weekend on Sundays. People will just spontaneously begin dancing to the music in the squares. In fact, all children in Catalan are taught these dances in school, although most of the kids think they're kind of silly.

What a fantastic tradition though. I love that people just dance in the streets here. I quite like this city.