Posted on February 8, 2010 - by Janice

Carnival and Candies in Vilanova i la Geltru, Spain

Carnival always means a candy fight in Vilanova.

From the cold of Quebec City to the heat of Rio de Janeiro, Carnival (Mardi Gras) is celebrated in many ways and many places all around the world. And it’s that time once again.

A few years ago, I experienced a completely different sort of Carnival in the small city of Vilanova i la Geltru, just south of Barcelona in Spain.

There, Carnival is celebrated with candies.

“”The sweets on the street are so thick that you don’t dare stand still for long.”

The whole town takes part in the sweets wars. And during the day, candies are thrown from the balconies for children. Within no time, the streets (all the streets) are covered in candies that have been ground into the pavement by thousands of revelers. Needless to say, you don’t want to stand still too long or you’ll have difficulty extracting your foot from the pavement. Really! It’s hard to pull your foot off the road.

And amongst the sweet wars are the parades. Seemingly spontaneous parades that start out of nowhere but they may have been planned for months. Stand in middle of an intersection and they can come at you from multiple directions. It’s unlike anything you’ll see in North America.

It’s a sticky, sweet mess of a city and good clean Carnival fun.