Sant Medir

Every March, the children of Barcelona enjoy one of the "sweetest" festivals of the city. The streets and squares of the charming district of Gràcia become a festival of sweets, bands and horse carriages. This is the Sant Medir Festival and according to tradition originates from the Saint who lived in the year 303 in Barcelona under the Roman rule of Diocletian, who intensely persecuted Christians.

According to legend, Medir, a humble peasant who grew beans on Collserola ridge, encountered Bishop Sever crossing his fields fleeing the persecution of Emperor Diocletian. Medir earned the bishop’s favour when he refused to betray him to the Roman troops. Miraculously, his beans started to grow just after had had planted them. Medir and the bishop were eventually captured and tortured for refusing to renounce their Christian faith and were made saints.

A hermitage was built where the Saint lived to mark the starting point of the pilgrimage. In 1830, a baker from the district of Gràcia made a pilgrimage to the hermitage on his feast day to honour a promise he had made to the saint. To commemorate the event, the pilgrims carry ribbons with a bean, a medallion of the saint, and violets and flowers that resist the cold, attached to them. This tradition has grown and different groups, known as colles, from the districts of of Gràcia, Sarrià and Sants. Each year, on 3rd March, the pilgrims parade all day through the streets of Gràcia and in the afternoon a spectacular parade is held on the Gran de Gràcia street, handing out sweets to all participants.