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Carnival of Solsona

Solsona, Solsonès, Lleida

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 4 Activities · 4 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

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Carnival of Solsona

Activity · Solsona, Solsonès, Lleida

A popular festival of Solsona (Lleida), declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico (Festival of Tourist Interest) since 1980, which begins a few days before Shrove Thursday and ends, like every traditional carnival, on Ash Wednesday. The present-day carnival was revived in 1971, when a group of young people recovered, after the 1936 ban, the arrival of His Majesty the Carnival King, the reading of a critical sermon and the final burning of the effigy. It consists of more than 50 events spread over ten or eleven days, including Shrove Thursday, the Bajada de Boits, the Carnival Market and the Sermon, with the Gegant Boig, created in 1978, as one of its central figures. Its best-known event is the Colgada del Burro: on Saturday night a papier-mâché donkey is hoisted up the bell tower of the Torre de les Hores, to the tune of the song A Solsona bona gent, referring to the nickname mataburros (donkey-killers) given to the people of Solsona.

Photo: Solde (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What to see and do in Solsona