Race With The Devil

This is a week for fiestas. I know, I know, when is it not a week for fiestas, but this is a big one. To have two such major occasions in one week in January says much about Mallorca; much about the importance of tradition and much about the way in which the calendar is defined by these occasions. The year, especially in winter when there is less work to be done, is mapped out by reference to these fiestas. In October and November, the various fairs across the island and Hallowe’en at the end of October; in November, All Saints; in December, the holidays of Constitution Day and Immaculate Conception and then Christmas and New Year’s Eve; in January, Three Kings and Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastia. Mallorcan time and the Mallorcan calendar revolve around fiestas. Once the January events are finished, attention turns to the upcoming season. Winter, just as much as summer, is fiesta time.

Sant Antoni occurs on the night of 16 January and into 17 January, At its spectacular heart, are the fires and the fire-runs (correfocs). Streets are given over to fires. Mounds of earth on which fires are lit. The night of the 16th is when the devils run in the streets. Most towns have a Sant Antoni event – Alcudia, Pollensa, Muro. All of them celebrate the occasion. But there is no more significant event than the “Nit Bruixa” (witch night) of Sa Pobla, one that attracts folk from across the island.

Sant Sebastia (20 January) is essentially a Palma event, as it celebrates the patron saint of Palma, but it is also celebrated elsewhere. This year, the grand fireworks display in Palma has been called off in favour of a correfoc as this is, according to Palma council worthies, more in keeping with Mallorcan traditions. Perhaps so.

Both Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastia are very much Mallorcan events. Foreign visitors there may be, certainly for Sant Sebastia, but they are limited, and this year I know some are disappointed at the lack of a firework display, a disappointment that will hardly be offset by the dubious attraction of the current line-up of the Electric Light Orchestra.

But why are they not more international? When we hear so much about Mallorcan culture, why is not more, much more, made in particular of the demonology? Here is something that captures the imagination, far more so than the vagueness of other so-called Mallorcan culture. Demonology and devils, things of the night; these are things of the human spirit, understood by all other cultures. And they find a special voice in the fire-runs and the witch night right here in Mallorca.

What if Sa Pobla were to be transformed into a centre of the devil, with a physical centre, a museum or better still some grand attraction with interactive fire-runs and resident devils? A vast digital witch night, a nightmare of temptation. What if this were to be marketed as the ultimate horror? What if there were special packages for Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastian and then other packages outside of the one week in January that promised terror and thrills. This is the stuff of the digital age. Play Station played large. And not just digital.

Or would there be objections? Would the Mallorcans want even more of their traditions internationalised? They can be terribly parochial. Would the promotion of the Devil be sacrilegious for a society that runs with the Devil but only because of the temptations that the Devil placed in front of the God-fearing? The fire-run of the Beata fiesta in Santa Margalida for instance celebrates just this – the temptation of Santa Catalina by Satan.

I don’t know the answer, but if they want cultural tourism then let them promote real culture, real culture that everyone can understand and that everyone might want to enjoy, and for which everyone might be tempted to come to Mallorca in winter. A bit of imagination anyone?


QUIZ
Yesterday – Sylvia, and she was Swedish. Today’s title – a bit to choose from I fancy, but this is a title by one of the original rockers.

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