The Corpus de Sitges of 2024 was presented this afternoon at the Casino Prado and revealed the main news of this year. The announcement will be Montse Curtiada, the artist who has made the poster and the image of this year is Mar Mestres Ramon and the Minerva Pennon will be led by Joan Hernàndez Matas. The most traditional part is maintained with 31 sections of streets that will be lined with flower carpets on Sunday, June 2. There are also 31 exhibitors of carnations, which premiere location in the gardens of the Hospital Sant Joan. In addition to these more traditional aspects, the edition of this 2024 enriches the programming with the creation of the Joc de Festes, a game of questions and answers about the three major celebrations of Sitges: Carnival, Corpus and Festa Major.

The Corpus in Sitges events of 2024 will begin on 25th May and will last until 9th June, to celebrate a festival that has been recognised as a Heritage Festival of National Interest. The big explosion of Corpus in Sitges will take place on Sunday 2nd June with the carpets and the procession, but the programme of events is full of activities for all ages and novelties such as the presentation of the Joc de Festes, Saturday 25th May at six o'clock in the afternoon at the Hort de Can Falç. This is a board game with the theme of the three great popular festivals of Sitges (Carnival, Corpus and Festa Major) as a common thread. This year the prototype is being presented, but the game will not be completed until next year, when it will go on sale.

In the 2024 edition of Corpus Christi, there will be 31 stretches of streets with carpets of flowers, which means about 3,000 square metres of the public streets will be decorated. There will be 370,000 carnations, 2 tons of husk, 500 square metres of grass and 500 square metres of cypress. In addition to carnations, where white and red are the predominant colours, there will also be St. John's flower, bougainvillea, Moorish carnation, gerbera and statice.

Most of the carnations come from Colombia, but many of the flowers that can be seen on Sunday 2 June in the carpets are the result of the participatory feeling of Corpus Christi. That is to say, neighbourhood collaboration and family and friendship ties mean that, for example, there are flowers from private gardens or others that everyone buys from florists. One of the special cases this year is the grass, which normally used to come from the municipal gardening, but this year this part has been greatly reduced by the restrictions due to the drought. In order to have enough grass, the Corpus Commission and the Golf Club Terramar have reached an agreement and the grass will be provided thanks to the collaboration of this sports club.

Beyond the making of the carpets, the extensive programme of Corpus means that the direct participation throughout the festival is estimated at around 2,000 people. Some 1,200 people will be involved in the 31 sections of carpets. At the Corpus Christi procession, on Sunday afternoon, June 2nd, 500 more people participate between the three pairs of Gegants, the Drac, the Àguila, the Moixiganga, the colles de grallers, the pubilles i els hereus, the communion children, the accompanists of the Procession and the musicians. In addition, the neighbourhood, families and friends are also essential for the garrisoned façades and balconies, the departure of the Gegants to the vigil or the carnation exhibition, which this year will be held in the gardens of the Hospital de Sant Joan. Precisely, one of the most anticipated events, the Exhibition of carnations, will bring together 31 exhibitors, among which there will be five schools from Sitges who have been involved in the cultivation of carnations. The total number of carnations that will be on display, between all the different varieties, will reach 1,200, each with its own turret.

Protagonists

The Sitges Corpus of 2024 will have Montse Curtiada, a person closely linked to the Corpus and who was president of the Commission between 2010 and 2013, as the town crier. Curtiada will make the Pregó del Clavell in another emblematic space of Sitges, the Racó de la Calma.

The Minerva pendonist will be Joan Hernàndez Matas, a person of reference in the carpet of the first section of Carrer Jesús. He is the example of a family that has led the making of a carpet, maintains it and transmits this tradition to the new generations.

The author of the poster and the image of this year's Corpus Christi is Mar Mestres Ramon, an artist linked to the carpet of the third section of the carrer Jesús and who wanted to capture the joy and enthusiasm of the festival.

The Corpus de Sitges festival has all the information available at www.sitgescorpus.cat, where you can consult this year's programme of events as well as the history of the Corpus de Sitges.