LA CASTANYADA
You’ll find Halloween parties and costumes everywhere tonight, but if you really want to celebrate the day as a true Catalan, here’s something you need to know:
1. Traditional Catalan day
La Castanyada is a traditional Catalan day celebrated in schools every October 31st.
2. Eat chestnuts, sweet potatoes and panallets
It’s very traditional to eat chestnuts, sweet potatoes and panellets. Panellets are small, round pastries made of marzipan, with different shapes and flavors. The most popular panellet is the one covered with pine nuts.
3. La castanyera song
Every children in Catalonia knows the song ‘La castanyera’. It’s about a woman who sells chestnuts in the city after having picked them up in the woods. You can listen to it!
4. Ringing bells to honour the dead ones
Legend has it people in the villages used to spend All Saints’ Eve (the night from the 31st to 1st November) ringing the bells to honour the dead ones. It took so much energy off them that they needed to recover by eating chestnuts, the most abundant fruit that was also able to keep them warm.
5. La castanyera
You can find “castanyeres” in Barcelona city center as well! From now on til almost Christmas, you’ll find little stores such as this around the city. Don’t hesitate and dare to try our tasteful panellets as well!
Need help to find them?
Castanyeres and sweet potatoes: Aribau with Gran Via (Universitat, next to UB), Ronda Sant Antoni (Universitat)
Panellets: Forn Mistral (Ronda de Sant Antoni, 96)
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