The Deputy Councilor for Culture, Heidi Pérez, has presented the program for the Festival of Las Santes 2023. The Councilor for the Inclusive and Healthy City, Laura Seijo, has also participated in the press conference for the improvements that have been introduced this year to make Les Santes a more accessible party.
Within the framework of the days of reflection on different aspects of Les Santes, the administration acquired the commitment to work to make an inclusive and accessible party possible. The City Council and the different entities that make up the Accessibility Roundtable have worked on a pioneering project in Catalonia to bring the festival as close as possible to the maximum number of people, so that the maximum number of people can access the events, in conditions of comfort, safety and equality. Specifically, work will be done for sensory accessibility, people with neurodevelopmental disorders (TEA; Asperger, ADHD…); and physical accessibility, people with reduced mobility.
With the complicity of the institutional troupes, this great challenge begins, which will be channeled with spaces reserved for people with reduced mobility, quiet sections with less music, less fireworks, without surprises and with prior explanations of what will happen, and also the so-called “spaces calm”, or back to normal. These actions will take the form of the following acts: the Crida de Festa Major, the Anada a Ofici and the Parade, the Anada a la Residència, the Postal de Gegants and the Anem a Tancar, with the intention of extending them in future editions.
The expansion of participation has focused on opening up to all city entities the possibility of opting, through a regulated competition, for their active involvement in organizational and logistical elements of this city event, such as the management of the bars cultural activities. Also noteworthy is the incorporation of the city’s devil entities to the Escapada Negra Nit and Correguspira as invited groups; as well as the continuity in the involvement of local businesses in the sale of the Santes shirt or the maintenance of the three firing points for the fireworks on the 27th.
The programming of the usual acts will begin on Wednesday, July 19 in the afternoon with the Premiere and the Proclamation. This year’s premiere will be the priest Robert Baró i Cabrera, who will speak about an outstanding event this year, the 175th anniversary of the Les Santes Mass. Immediately afterwards, the Herald will proclaim in the city that the Fiesta Mayor will be held in Mataró in honor of Saints Juliana and Semproniana.
But this year there is another outstanding event: 40 years ago the Desvetllament Bellugós began to be celebrated on the night of July 25 with the Robafaves Family dancing with the citizens to the rhythm of El Bequetero. To commemorate this anniversary, a fence will be installed from in front of the Town Hall, the place where the act began, to the space where the Desvetllament ends with the Robafaves Family, in the Plaza de Santa Anna.
On the afternoon of the 22nd, the Plaza de Santa Anna will once again experience a great castella performance with the participation of three of the country’s great groups: the Capgrossos from Mataró, the Castellers from Vilafranca and the Minyons from Terrassa. The castle day will not be celebrated as is tradition on the Sunday before All Saints’ Day, due to the coincidence with the general elections. The Encesa is also affected by the call for elections and will be held on the same Saturday, July 22 at 9 p.m. The Baile de Diablos de Mataró invites you to the Festa de la Filoxera de San Sadurní de Anoia, a festive retinue that, through fire, music and elements of the festive imagination, stages the victory of this population in the plague that at the end of the 19th century razed the Penedès vineyards.
On the 24th it will be the turn of the Gegantada that will tour several streets of the city with the display of giants and dwarves from schools, entities and groups of the city and the Robafaves Family.
On the 25th, the traditional concert of the Agrupació Musical del Maresme moves to the new space of the Jardins de l’Escorxador. Then the institutional Colles will go towards the Crida to the Town Hall. The Mayor will make the call to the main festival addressed to all the people of Matarón. La Crida can be followed as always on a screen that this year, due to the effects of the works on Calle Sant Josep, will be located in Plaza de Santa Anna.
As every year, at 11:30 p.m. the Robafaves Family will start the Bellugós Unveiling, dancing to the rhythm of the Bequetero until Santa Anna square. There, the traditional music group La Cosina will be the protagonist of the Guest of the Robafaves Family.
Following the Escape to Black Night, the streets of the city will be filled with the fire of Els Diables, the Momerota and the Dragon accompanied by different gangs of fire from all over the country: the Devils of La Llàntia and the Devils Atabalats of Cerdanyola de Mataró, the Devils from Tordera, the Gentle Devils from Vilassar de Mar, the Horned Devils from Llavaneres, La Serrallenca (Vibria de Tarragona) and the Llopa de la Madella from Bigues i Riells.
The night will not end as is the tradition with the Ruixada, which is canceled due to the drought. In its place in Parc Central vell will be the music of the Girasol Orchestra, with the show “Fins que surti el sol”.
On July 26th, in the afternoon, the format of the Crazy Night will be replicated for the little ones at De Parranda y la Convidadeta with the Sardines en Launa concert. In the Correguspira, the children’s groups of fire have invited the accompaniment of the Devils of Llàntia, the Devils of Mataró, the Devils of Sea and Gafarronet of Premià de Mar and the Griu and Grifones of Sant Andreu del Palomar
On July 27, it will have the traditional structure of the day of the patron saints beginning with the traditional Matinades from different points of the city, then the Anada a Oficio, the Parade and the Passada and will end with the traditional fireworks display that, Due to the good reception last year, it will shoot from three points to reach as many people as possible: the Paseo Marítimo and the neighborhoods of Cerdanyola and Vista Alegre.
On July 28, there will be the official reception of the Julianas and Sempronianas and the Added to the Residence with all the institutional figures. However, the route will be in reverse, as a result of the works on Calle de Sant Josep. In this year’s Postal de Gegants, the Robafaves Family will receive the Gigantes de Manacor on July 28 and the Ball de Dracs will have the participation of the Dracs de la Bisbal de l’Empordà. On the 28th it will end, as is tradition, with No N’hi ha Prou.
Finally, on the morning of the 29th, the Vermouth of sticks will be held, and in the afternoon the Enfigura’t will allow citizens to carry the institutional figures for a few moments. Let’s close will put an end to customary acts, with the parade to Can Marfà.
On the night of July 29, before the Thunderstorm, “La carretillada” will be held in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, a new act of fire by the Ball de Diables de Mataró.
Les Santes will once again offer a wide range of musical proposals, of diverse styles, with the intention of reaching all types of audiences. You will be able to enjoy about forty musical groups, both from Mataró and from other parts of the country.
The seafront will once again be one of the key points of the Festival concerts with a large stage located on Varador beach, next to the Mataró Swimming Center (Espigó Stage). Here the people of Matararo will play on the night of the 27th, after the fireworks, The Tyets, a true musical phenomenon after the release of their new album.
On this same stage, the habaneras of the groups Boira and Mar Endins, and the Gospelsons (24), the Mataró Orchestra (22), the Maresme Jazz Big Band (26) and the Agrupació Musical del Maresme with the Barcelona Gospel Messengers will play. (29). It will also host the Beach Party on the night of July 25, which this year will feature three female disc jockeys, DJ Enka, DJ Jackie D and Chica B DJ, and who will extend the party until 6am.
On Saturday the 22nd, the 10th edition of Les Dissantes will be held, which returns to its original location, the Parc Central vell. The solidarity party organized jointly by the City Council and the El Maresme Foundation will offer 15 hours of activity and more than eight hours of music with El Pony Pisador as headliner, the Boom Boom Fighters from Matarón
The Parc Central Vell will be another of the stages with great capacity and it is where the concert of the Girasol Orchestra (25), the Verbena de Fiesta Mayor with Hotel Cochambre, Las que Faltaband and The Aguateques (26) ), the Requisits of Festa Major with La Principal de La Bisbal (28), the Fiesta Mayor concert with La Selvatana and the Espetec Final with La Selvatana and La Tribut FM (29).
The new space in the Jardins de l’Escorxador will host the traditional Band Concert of the Agrupación Musical del Maresme (25) and the concerts by the Matarón choirs La Nota (23) and the Cor Madrigalista (26). The Barram concert will also be held on the 26th with the Orquestrina Trama. The Capgrossos from Mataró, after the last rehearsal on the 21st, organize the concert of human towers with Figa Flawas and Dj Lin.
The New Parc Central will once again be the ideal place to enjoy family shows, with the Espai Familiar. From July 25 to 29, throughout the afternoon there will be a space for games, sessions of the Empedrat de Contes of the Libraries of Mataró, a space for drawing and painting, and board games. At 7:00 p.m. there will be more festive shows for all audiences, from different disciplines such as theatre, circus, music and dance. While at 9:00 p.m. there will be proposals aimed at a younger audience. Joan Català from Matarón and the Mur company will perform, as well as artists and companies awarded at different festivals such as the companies Anna Confetti, Manolo Alcántara, Mayte Guevara, Tomeu Amer and José Luís Redondo -residents in Mataró-, Cicharron, Jordi Farrés from the company Farrés Brothers, Lamajara and the production of Las Clika music houses.
On July 24 at 9:00 p.m. in the Plaza de Santa Anna, “No n’hi ha prou” will be screened, a documentary about Las Santes and different major festivals in Catalonia produced by Tv Mataró and La Xarxa, with the performance of Clack and the support of Culture. The documentary wants to explain what the Mataró Festival is today, how it has recovered after the pandemic and how it fits into the great festivals of Catalonia such as Patum, Mercè or Santa Tecla.
The Mataró Library Network will once again be present at the Festival offering three very special hours of stories full of magic in the Pompeu Fabra and Antoni Comas libraries.
La Presó will host two exhibitions: the photographic exhibition of Les Santes 2022, “Les Santes en color”, by Jaume Quílez, and “El punt muntable” by Carla Aledo, author of the Les Santes 2023 poster, in which the work process. Both can be seen from July 1 to September 3.
Here you can consult the entire Program of the Festa Major de Les Santes de Mataró 2023.
