Days Of Future Passed

More fairs. Fairs of differing kinds.

In London the World Travel Market fair opened today. It signals the opportunity for the Balearics to press further their claim on the hearts of the vital British tourism market. The other day the editor of “The Bulletin” expressed a concern about the prominence that Balearics leader Francesc Antich was giving to tourism. Well Antich is one of the delegation pitching up in London. Perhaps that gives the answer.


The fine weather has brought out the hordes to the various autumn fairs. One other that is ongoing is the fair in Inca. “Dijous Bo”, which I take to mean good Thursday, is - like many events here - a several-day affair and not just a dijous. This is the grandest of the island’s fairs. Like the fiestas, the fairs represent a cultural aspect of Mallorcan life that many would no longer recognise in Britain. There is a civic pride in the fairs; they are to be found across the island in all manner of locations during the autumn. And there is something more than just pride; there is an assertion of the qualities of the towns and the island. The “Diario” waxed lyrically in Mallorquín on this: “a fair is not a commemoration of the past; a fair is the exhibition of the present and of the future, a demonstration of the capabilities of the people of one place in today’s society”. Blimey.


Past or not, the island’s fairs do offer a continuity with years gone by, with the island’s history. I said the other day that Mallorca’s history is a side-show compared with that of the mainland. This is the case, but it doesn’t make the digging into this history any less worthwhile. The “Ultima Hora” weekend supplement “Brisas” often features items about the island’s history. The most recent is no different. It highlights the story of a community formed in the final quarter of the nineteenth century in the Albufera area. This community was known as Gatamoix. It came about under a law which permitted the colonisation of coastal areas for the purpose of creating productive agricultural areas. The story of Gatamoix, its founding and its subsequent decline, is linked to a British company which undertook to dry out parts of Albufera. It is a story of dealing with what was an unhealthy place because of malaria, and of confronting the problems of salt and of maintaining the dried-out parts of Albufera. The community lasted for less than fifty years, and all that now remains is one house.

History: it’s all around you; just a case of finding it.


QUIZ
Yesterday - “Our House”, Crosby, Stills and Nash (Young had yet to join). Today’s title - album by?

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