Monistrol of Montserrat celebrates in January the FESTIVAL OF SAN SEBASTIAN. This festival has its roots in the fact that between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries the population of Catalonia in general and the Monistrolean, in particular, suffered several epidemics of black plague that came to cause the death of an important sector of the population. Since there was no medical remedy, asking for the intercession of Saints and Church became common in our lands. Hence the origin of the devotion of the Monistrolians to San Sebasti'n, much venerated everywhere, as a cure for plague and other infectious evils.
The festival, which dates back to 1663, when the written documentation that is preserved is already cited, has a religious aspect: the Completes Office, the Solemn Office and the Procession in honor of San Sebasti'n through the streets of the town, and another more traditional one: the children's gymkhana, the parade, the theatrical performances on the plague through the streets of the town, and the National Heritage, declared.