Walk through Barcelona in late October and the first sign of the season is a smell, not a sight: chestnuts roasting on a street brazier. That smoke belongs to the Castanyada, the Catalan autumn festival tied to Tots Sants, or All Saints’ Day, that braids remembrance of the dead with a table of seasonal food.
What the Castanyada and Tots Sants are
The Castanyada is the popular celebration; Tots Sants is the religious day it accompanies. The festival took shape in the 18th century as something practical. The eve of All Saints’ Day was a night-long vigil, with bell-ringers sounding the church bells without pause to call people to pray for the dead. To get through the cold and the hours, they ate cheap, filling seasonal food: roasted chestnuts, sweet potatoes and sweet wine. The custom passed to families and gathered beliefs, among them that every chestnut eaten that night freed a soul from purgatory.
What are the Castanyada and Tots Sants? The Castanyada is the Catalan popular festival of 31 October, the eve of Tots Sants, All Saints’ Day on 1 November, tied to remembrance of the dead. It is marked with roasted chestnuts, panellets, sweet potatoes and moscatel, with chestnut sellers in the street and, on 1 November, visits to the cemeteries. All Souls’ Day follows on 2 November.
Its roots run deeper than Christianity, in harvest-end and seasonal-transition rites onto which the Church later set 1 November. That is why the solemn religious side of Tots Sants and the cheerful gathering around the table sit side by side at the same moment of the year.
The autumn table, chestnuts, panellets and moscatel
The sweet at the centre of it all is the panellet. The classic is made of raw ground almond, sugar, egg and lemon zest, rolled in pine nuts, though coconut, chocolate, coffee and quince versions now fill the counters. Its status is official: panellets carry the EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed mark, one of only 4 foods in Spain with that protected designation. In the weeks around All Saints’, the city’s bakeries shift their whole production toward them.
Around the panellet, the rest of the table falls into place. Roasted chestnuts arrive in their paper cone, sweet potatoes roast slowly on the same braziers, and moscatel or mistela provides the sweet wine that once doubled as an offering on the graves. It is seasonal comfort food built for warming up and sharing, not far in spirit from what you find at La Boqueria market in autumn.
Key dates, from 31 October to Sant Martí
The core runs over three days, but the season around it is longer. This is the calendar at a glance.
| Date | What it marks |
|---|---|
| 31 October | La Castanyada, the eve of All Saints’ Day |
| 1 November | Tots Sants, All Saints’ Day, cemetery visits |
| 2 November | Dia dels Difunts, All Souls’ Day |
| Until 11 November | Sant Martí, the chestnut season tails off |
Plan a visit anywhere in that window and the braziers will be lit. To weigh up when autumn suits you best, the best time to visit Barcelona guide lays out the seasons, and the festival sits in the same Catalan calendar as the Mercè and Sant Jordi.
Chestnut sellers, then and now
The human symbol of the festival is the castanyera, the chestnut seller, traditionally an older woman in a long skirt, apron and headscarf who roasted chestnuts on a brazier and handed them over hot in a paper cone. According to experts in the tradition, she prayed for the souls of the dead as the chestnuts roasted, and getting soot on your face was said to bring luck. Here is the detail almost no account includes: according to the Costumari català of Joan Amades, recorded by Barcelona’s own city council, the sellers did not set up at random. On All Saints’ Day they pitched beside the two city gates that led to the cemeteries, the Portal de l’Àngel toward the old plague cemetery at today’s Passeig de Gràcia and Aragó, and the Portal de Don Carles, on today’s Avinguda d’Icària, toward Poblenou, catching people as they returned from visiting their dead. From 2 November the sellers spread across the city.
The street tradition is not fading but growing. According to official data, the city council has granted a recent record of 65 licences for chestnut and sweet-potato stalls across every district. Sant Martí concentrates 18, almost a third, largely around Poblenou, while the Eixample has the fewest, with a single stall. Most run from 9am to 10pm, and you will find braziers at busy points such as Plaça de Catalunya, Passeig de Gràcia and Plaça de Sants, as well as around Gràcia.
Cemeteries and the day of remembrance
On 1 November the mood shifts. Tots Sants is the quiet day when thousands of locals go to the cemeteries to tidy graves and lay flowers for their dead, lived less as mourning than as memory and family. The cemeteries of Montjuïc, Poblenou and Sant Andreu draw the most visitors and extend their hours for the occasion.
Autumn also turns these grounds into living heritage. Poblenou cemetery, home to the famous Kiss of Death sculpture and the venerated tomb of El Santet, and Montjuïc run guided visits, sometimes by candlelight, on their funerary and artistic heritage. It is a less touristed side of the city that connects with Poblenou beyond its beaches.
Castanyada or Halloween
The question comes up every autumn, but it sets up a false choice. In Barcelona the two celebrations coexist: younger generations, especially the under-25s, lean toward costumes on 31 October, while many families keep the traditional dinner, the panellets and the cemetery visit. Combining both on the same night is common, sometimes nicknamed Castaween.
It is worth remembering, too, that a lit gourd is not entirely foreign to Catalan culture. Before Halloween arrived, there was a custom, rooted in counties such as the Ripollès and Osona, of hollowing out a pumpkin or a turnip and setting a candle inside, known as fer por, making fear. The Castanyada, in any case, keeps its own axis in fire, fruit and remembrance.
Common questions about the Castanyada and Tots Sants
What do people eat during the Castanyada?
Roasted chestnuts, panellets, sweet potatoes and moscatel are the staples. Chestnuts give the festival its name and are sold in the street in a paper cone; panellets are the star sweet, made of raw ground almond, sugar, egg and pine nuts; roasted sweet potato accompanies them, and moscatel is the traditional sweet wine.
Why are chestnuts eaten on All Saints’ Day?
Because of the festival’s 18th-century origin. Bell-ringers rang the church bells all through the eve of Tots Sants to call people to pray for the dead, and ate chestnuts, sweet potatoes and sweet wine, cheap, filling seasonal food, to get through the cold and the long hours. The custom then spread to families.
Is the Castanyada the same as Halloween?
No. The Castanyada grows from a Catalan family ritual of remembrance tied to Tots Sants, with chestnuts, panellets and cemetery visits. Halloween is an imported, costume-led celebration. Today the two coexist in Barcelona, and many families combine a traditional dinner with a costume party on the same night.
When is the Castanyada celebrated?
On the night of 31 October, the eve of Tots Sants, or All Saints’ Day, on 1 November, followed by All Souls’ Day on 2 November. The gastronomic season stretches longer, to around 11 November, Sant Martí, when chestnuts, sweets and sweet wine are still shared.
What is a panellet?
A Catalan All Saints’ sweet made of raw ground almond, sugar, egg and lemon zest, coated in pine nuts in its classic form, though coconut, chocolate and coffee versions exist. Panellets carry the EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed mark, one of only four foods in Spain with that designation.
Halloween costumes come and go, but as long as Barcelona smells of chestnuts and almond in late October, the Castanyada keeps the night.