One of the most significant facts about the Canigó Flame’s arrival in Barcelona is that it was received by municipal authorities at the height of the Franco regime. But the spirit of the Flame did not rest there, and little by little it spread throughout the Catalan-speaking countries: It arrived for the first time in the region of Valencia in 1973, and in Alicante in 1976. The following year, the Flame went still further, to Barcelona, where it was officially received in Plaça de Sant Jaume. But it was not until 1966 that the Flame crossed the border for the first time at Coll d’Ares, reaching Vic. In 1955, inspired by the poem ‘Canigó’ by Jacint Verdaguer, a resident of Arles de Tec, Francesc Pujade, lit the first fire on the top of Mount Canigó.īetween 19, the ritual became popular throughout Northern Catalonia, and there were initial contacts with people from the Principality. The Cercle de Joves de Perpinyà revived the tradition after the Second World War, by starting to build Sant Joan bonfires again. In Perpignan, Bishop Juli Carsalade was one of its main advocates. In a way, the Canigó Flame is based on the tradition of patriotic fires, which spread throughout the territory at the beginning of the 20th century. And it examines all the rituals and symbolism that have kept this tradition alive in Catalan-speaking countries for over sixty years. It also emphasises the role of the city’s neighbourhoods in preserving some bonfires, which went into clear decline in the 1980s. The chapter, entitled ‘The Canigó Flame in Barcelona’, is written by the folklore expert Amadeu Carbó, who provides a chronology of the Flame and how it arrived in Barcelona, where it was received by authorities from the Franco regime. Although it did not arrive in Barcelona until the following year, 1967, a chapter of the book ‘ La Nit de Sant Joan a Barcelona’ explains the relation between this symbol of Catalanism and the city festival. After nearly a decade of moving around Northern Catalonia, the flame crossed the frontier to extend its message of cultural unity throughout Catalonia on the night of Sant Joan, 1966. It has been fifty years since the Canigó Flame arrived here for the first time from the Principality.