La Castanyada: Halloween in Barcelona.

On November 1st all over Catalonia, and especially in Barcelona, you can take part in one of the region’s most characteristic All Saints’ Day traditions: la Castanyada.

The chestnut – fall’s classic symbol – plays the leading role in this festival. Enjoy Catalonia’s most traditional and seasonal dishes: chestnuts, sweet potatoes, sweet wine and panellets, small varied candies made of marzipan, almonds and pine nuts; a Catalan staple.

The truly imaginative can take advantage of this festival in conjunction with Halloween, a 2.500 year old festival of Celtic origin in celebration of the summer solstice, which coincides with October 31st in the Celtic calendar. Later, this holiday spread throughout the Anglo-Saxon countries and all the way to the United States, where it soon became one of the most popular and fun holidays, especially for children, who celebrate by dressing up and pulling pranks.

Barcelona offers a fine incentive to take advantage of these two events together, and come and enjoy Barcelona’s festive environment and autumnal glow. Barcelona makes it easy… because there’s always a good excuse to visit Barcelona.