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It dawns between mists and the fires of the Festa del Pi, today, in Centelles, in the Osona region. This traditional event is celebrated every year on December 30 and is declared a Heritage Festival of National Interest.
Before cutting the pine tree to take it down and hang it upside down in the church, we go to the forest and light the fires to cook mostly grilled sausage. The images that I share in La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos show this moment at dawn.
During the Festa del Pi, declared a Heritage Festival of National Interest in Catalonia, people go out into the forest to cut the most beautiful pine tree and then offer it, decorated, to the patron saint, Santa Coloma.
While going down from the forest to the town, to go to the church, it is accompanied by shots from blunderbusses and shotguns, with the trabucaires dressed in the traditional way with their barretina on their heads.
The first written information about the Festa del Pi is from 1751 and since then it has been linked to the festival of Santa Coloma, patron saint of Centelles.
According to the Centelles City Council, “ancient reminiscences of tree worship and pagan fertilization rituals related to the winter solstice and the regeneration of nature have been seen in this celebration.” That is why it is assumed that the origin of this festival goes back much further than what the documentation reflects.
