Barcelona: Le Mercé Festival - Fire Run

What was a pretty shitty day turned into sheer awesomeness. Ron took me to the Fire Run (part of the Le Mercé Festival). The Fire Run is kind of like the running of the bulls, except instead of bulls, people run around swinging twirling fireworks mounted on pitchforks above their heads. Everyone runs around like mad, trying to get under the sparks for good luck. It's like a giant fire fight. It's pretty bloody dangerous. I got a few burns from sparks.

Everyone carrying the fireworks dress up in crazy costumes, and anyone with half a brain who wants to run with the fire wears protective gear (googles etc). Of course, I didn't.

There were people running everywhere, ducking and weaving through the sparks. Young, old, you name it. Here's what it looked like...
About Le Mercé
"After Pope Pius IX declared the Virgin of La Mercè the patron saint of the city, Barcelona began to celebrate a festival in the month of September. La Mercè really took off in 1902, when under the impulse of Francesc Cambó, the festival became the model the those that are currently held all over Catalonia. However, the history of La Mercè would suffer many high and low points that extended throughout the Civil War and the years of Franco."

Basically it's a great excuse to celebrate an have heaps of fun!