Encamp Launches Permanent Exhibition on UNESCO Bear Festival Amid Satirical Carnival

Encamp parish has launched a permanent outdoor exhibition on the Ball de l’Ossa, its UNESCO-listed Pyrenean bear festival, ahead of this year’s Carnival performances that included pointed satire on local and national issues.

Culture, Youth and Childhood councillor Joan Sans inaugurated *El ball de l’Ossa, Patrimoni de la Humanitat* on Monday. The first phase features five double-sided panels around the parish centre, covering the festival’s origins, development, cultural significance, connections to similar Pyrenean traditions, and local sites bearing “ossa” names. QR codes link to digital extras like videos, traditional songs, and materials from Casa Comuna and the National Archive, curated by the Culture Department. Future updates will add multilingual content for residents and visitors.

Sans described the initiative as key to preserving a tradition UNESCO recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2022. “One of the commitments of Encamp commune has been to keep this tradition alive and bring it closer to the people,” he said, noting the careful selection of archival items to highlight its history and regional links. He also defended Carnival satire as a core, longstanding feature tied to pre-Lent customs, often critiquing parish and national politics.

The exhibition preceded Saturday’s events and Monday’s main Ball de l’Ossa show at Prat de l’Areny car park, organised by the Festes Commission. A parade from Plaça Sant Miquel brought four bears from Tutatis Produccions’ *Óssos del Pirineu* performance, led by the Ho Peta Street Band. About 50 onlookers—mostly confused ski tourists—watched as the bears encircled their bus.

Roughly 100 locals gathered at the car park after initial rain cleared, enjoying sketches mocking housing barriers for young Andorrans versus easier access for expats and investors; the “creper de la rotonda” for rudeness and alleged Catalan bias, with jabs at cheaper “insults” in Encamp; endless roadworks as “ghosts of past, present and future”; V16 buoys; roundabouts; and a proposed high-performance centre on disputed land. Parish rivalries played out in arm-wrestling between Cònsol Major Laura Mas and opposition councillor Marta Pujol impersonators—Mas’s figure winning—followed by realistic slaps from their “Rapidand” versions. Other moments featured a “Passapalaura” game targeting councillors, chaotic snacks blending eggs, flour, sausages, kebab and chicken from Bar Granada, a tribute to Carnival veteran de Juana, and naming the stage’s lone pine “3.14” (pi).

A brief condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s imprisonment, drew applause. This followed backlash from the Jewish community over a Saturday Carnival sketch depicting a king figure with an Israeli flag on its head, shot at to symbolise Gaza. The Festes Commission issued a statement clarifying the satire targeted political conflict, not any religion or people, and used fictional Carnival tropes without institutional endorsement.

The bear “death” closed Monday’s event with a circle dance and the song mocking “Senyor Ramon.”