Let yourself be seduced by the festivities held in Pallars Sobirà
If you want to know Pallars Sobirà from inside, you must experience its festivities and traditions. You will be fascinated by the magic of our ancestral traditions, amused by the atmosphere of our local festivals and amazed by all the things you will find on our fairs.
Although the Falles, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the most magic celebrations in the region, don’t miss our Carnival –which fills all the streets with excesses–, the very enthusiastic local festivals of the villages, and the other events that turn Pallars Sobirà into a very lively region.
Popular gathering | Brotherhood day
popular gathering is a meeting that usually takes place in a sanctuary which is a bit isolated from the towns and that is attended by the people from the nearby villages. More of the half of the twenty gatherings that are organised every year in Pallars Sobirà take place in May, when springtime really starts. Apart from the mass, those meetings usually include outdoor lunch.
Some popular gatherings are held at Pentecost, on the seventh Monday after Easter Monday, the last day of Easter. Other popular gatherings of that type are also organized in summer, when the weather is great.
Falles | The fire festival
Designated a Unesco World Heritage Site, Falles are ancestral festivities that are held to celebrate the arrival of summertime. A 15-meter high trunk is placed in the centre of a bonfire on the main square of the village. At nightfall, the young people walk down the mountain carrying a burning trunk on their shoulder until the square.
The route from the top of the mountain until the main trunk turns into a burning snake that slowly flows downhill. When the fallaires arrive to the square, they throw their falles into the bonfire and the party starts with music, coca bread, wine and traditional dances around the bonfire.
June
- Falles de Sant Joan d’Isil (23rd)
- Falles de Sant Joan d’Alins (23 rd)
- Falles de Sort
July
- Falles de Sant Pere de València d’Àneu
- Falles d’Alós d’Isil
Fairs | An opportunity to discover the region
In former times, fairs used to be celebrated once livestock had gone back down to the villages after spending the summer in the mountains. Apart from being an opportunity to buy and sell animals, they also used to be a good moment to buy everything you needed to go through the winter. Some of the fairs that used to take place in autumn have never been interrupted while some of them have been recovered in several villages.
Nowadays, instead of animals, you will find stalls of clothes, crafts, cars, household goods as well as playful, gastronomic and cultural activities, among others. Apart from that, during the last few years, some new thematic fairs, exhibitions and markets have appeared at different moments of the year in several villages of the region.
