Gegants Vells de la Casa de Caritat

The Gegants Vells de la Casa de Caritat are civic festival figures embedded in Barcelona's Carnival culture. Their identity derives from the Catalan tradition of gegants — large human-shaped effigies carried and danced in public processions — and their particular name links them to the Casa de Caritat, a charitable institution in Barcelona. The sources present them not as mythological beings but as part of the revived civic spectacle of Carnival after historical interruptions; they function as embodiments of local memory and festive continuity rather than as actors in an origin myth.

Specific descriptions of these particular gegants are not provided in the available sources; they are implicitly standard Catalan gegants — large human-shaped figures constructed to be carried or carried-on-shoulders in processions, typically with an oversized hollow head and body framework allowing a person to animate them during dances. No detailed information on costume, colors, facial features, or exact dimensions for the Casa de Caritat giants is documented in the cited material.

The 'abilities' of the Gegants Vells are performative and social: they are carried, paraded, and danced during Carnival events and other public festivities, serving to animate civic ritual, entertain crowds, and symbolize local continuity. Sources do not attribute supernatural powers or agency beyond their role as material cultural artifacts animated by people during processions.