The knowledge needed to be a bellringer has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. What chimes are played for each holiday, to tell the time, when someone has died, for a wedding, for a baptism, for each mass, what would be played to alert a danger, how to take care of the bells...
The 21st century is seeing many traditional jobs get lost. But not the job of the bellringer. Though the bells that tell the time have been automatized, other chimes are still done manually. Many towns have a strong tradition of bellringing and have been passing down their knowledge, but to ensure that no town is left behind, the Guild of Bell And Carillon Ringers of Catalonia is starting the Joanetes School of Bellringers.
Starting in autumn 2023, every Saturday for a year the aspiring bellringers will attend class in the village of Joanetes (pictured above, in Comarques Gironines, Catalonia) and will be able to practise with the village's Medieval church's bell tower.
