El Correfoc

Last night was the climax of the La Merce celebrations-Correfoc (fire run). My teachers have been talking about the Correfoc since I started class, so I had been looking forward to it, but I had no idea how absolutely insane it would be.

To start, a few days ago we all received an e-mail from IES warning us that if we were planning to attend Correfoc we needed to wear protective clothing (long sleeves, closed-toe shoes, hats...). I took this as a pretty extreme exaggeration, "how crazy can a parade really be," I thought.

The night rolls around and after much discussion, my roommates and i decided on long-sleeved shirts, tennis shoes and shorts (it's hot, we didn't want to be completely covered). I didn't even bring any head cover, again, I couldn't imagine needing a head cover for a parade.

We left early and made our way down the street toward the start of the Correfoc, as we approached, we were overcome by the sounds of various drum groups each jamming to their own specific beat. The street was filled, top to bottom, with people dressed in colors corresponding to their specific group. Each group had drummers, people dressed as devils who later would be the people with fire and, in most cases, some sort of huge beast that shot fire out of all orifices.

We made our way through the crowd, stopping at each beast to take pictures and walked toward the "Gates of Hell" where the parade began.

After about 20 minutes of anticipation, a man's voice came over a loud speaker. He spoke Catalan so I don't know what he was saying, but he sounded like an announcer for a haunted house radio commercial. It was kind of terrifying. Suddenly, ear-piercingly loud fireworks that were attached to the gates began to go off and a red cloud of smoke billowed out from around the looming gates.

By this time, we had realized that we were standing on the wrong side of the gates, so we slowly started to make our way through the crowd. The crowd was the most dense group of people I have ever been in, at times I felt like I couldn't breathe, not from claustrophobia, but from being squished so tightly between people that my lungs couldn't expand. Luckily, I made it through (with my purse and all of its contents) and found a prime location on the side walk right at the beginning of the parade.

Within minutes, we learned just how crazy Correfoc truly is. As the groups came through the gates, they lit firecracker-like torches that were attached to tall poles that individuals held and ran through the crowd with. These fire torches rain huge flaming sparks down on to the crowd. Not only did you need head covering (which luckily one of the girls I was with had an extra), but you also need to cover every part of exposed skin. I learned very quickly that the sparks hurt when the touch your legs, hands and neck.

Each time (every few seconds) that a fire runner ran in to the crowd everyone huddled and ducked to find relief from the relentless flames. There were, of course, the young locals who, instead of ducking, ran in to the street to dance and frolic in the sparks, but I was not brave enough to expose my bare legs to the sparks.

The parade went on for nearly 2 hours. Two hours of fire, drumming and constant firework sounds...I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I have to come back at some point in my life to experience Correfoc again. Everyone needs a Correfoc experience.

At the end of the night my roommates and I were talking about how a fire festival like this would NEVER be allowed in the U.S., thank goodness for study abroad or I would never get to experience such a wild festival!