I am reminded of a game I played many a long year ago (when a child) at a birthday party. As far as I can recall, it was the only time I ever encountered the game. It had been, therefore, a novelty. The name of the game was (and no doubt still is) Are You There, Moriarty? Who Moriarty was I had no idea - I'm assuming, rightly or wrongly, that he had something to do with Sherlock Holmes' archenemy - and in the game he was your opponent. Blindfolded, and without going into too much detail, you basically tried to belt your opponent with a rolled-up newspaper.
This memory of a blindfolded game comes flooding back because of pots, which might also be termed jars or pitchers. All of an earthenware variety, these pots are central to a children's game in which the player is blindfolded, spun around a few times and given a cane (certainly something more robust than a rolled-up newspaper) with which to try and break a pot that is hanging from some cord.
This is a very popular game among others that crop up at Mallorcan fiestas under the general heading of, well, popular games. Rather than enquiring after the whereabouts of Moriarty, other players seek to assist the prospective pot-breaker by shouting instructions - right, left, back, forward and so on.
Where this game came from is anyone's guess, so a guess has been made. This has it that it originated from mediaeval China and was imported to Venice by that Venetian traveller extraordinaire of the period, Marco Polo. (And before you say that Polo never went to China, scholars have ripped to shreds the theory that he didn't.) So, Polo brought the game back and it was adapted to Lent celebrations. Given trading relations between Venice, other Italian ports and Spain, it made its way across the water. It was to develop into one of the final acts of Carnival, similar in a sense to the burying of the sardine in marking the onset of the abstinence of Lent. Break a pot and out would fall something tasty. Nowadays the pots have sweets.
Pot-breaking is therefore a common theme of fiestas. In its children's game guise it isn't violent, but it takes on a whole different significance on the first Sunday of every September. Pots aren't just broken, they are smashed. Force is involved, though blindfolds are not. Indeed, and somewhat unusually, no masks are involved. The demons of Santa Margalida are identifiable, and it is they who engage in a great deal of pot-smashing.
The legend of Santa Catalina Tomàs - La Beata - is enshrined in an old folk song. It is a song which tells of Catalina taking food to poor labourers (sometimes stated as farmers) and being confronted by an envious demon who grabs the pot, jar (or pitcher) with the food in it and smashes it, only for Catalina to pick up the pieces and to deliver a feast that was even tastier than it would have been. La Beata of the procession of the first Sunday each September defies demonic pot-smashing, while couples from the town likewise are undeterred by the demons who snatch their pots and give them a good smashing.
The procession, which the Bishop of Mallorca attempted to at least modify if not ban outright in 1849 because the whole occasion was felt to be disobedient to God, attracts vast numbers. Although it is now far better known, especially among tourists, than was once the case, even some thirty years ago it was attracting, according to a local publication, more than ten thousand people. It is not termed the "most representative" Mallorcan procession for nothing. They've been calling it this for decades.
There was never any association between the saint and the town. She wasn't born there (she came from Valldemossa) and she didn't enter a convent there (that was in Palma). Quite why Santa Margalida came to have the association is something of a mystery. However, it was evidently the case that some one hundred years after she died in 1574, the town felt a particularly strong devotion towards her. In 1687 the town hall advanced "ten Mallorcan pounds" to the cause for her to be beatified. (This didn't occur until 1792.) And somewhere along the line came the folk song and thus the legend of the pot-smashing.
Showing posts with label La Beata. Show all posts
Showing posts with label La Beata. Show all posts
Sunday, September 04, 2016
Sunday, September 06, 2015
The Week Of Spirituality
Spirituality isn't solely about religion. Indeed it may not have anything to do with religion. It is an intangible sense of being which may be divorced from religion but which, nonetheless, has its roots in something that is other worldly.
I have heard much about Mallorcan spirituality in recent months. In assimilating what this means, I conclude that it is a mix of religion, of symbols of religiosity, philosophy and learning, of the land (especially the Tramuntana) and the strong vestiges of the past that remain, and also of a streak of irreverence, of mischievousness, of insularity.
The next few days, starting today, bring much of this together. This is a week which might be said to epitomise Mallorcan spirituality, which combines an essentially religious element with the land, philosophy and mischief-making through celebrations that are, with two out of three examples, specifically Mallorcan.
The one that is broader than Mallorca alone is the day of the Mare de Déu on 8 September. The birthdate of the Virgin Mary, it does, nevertheless, have a direct connection with Mallorca. For the birthdate to have been established in Catholic tradition there had to have been the dogma regarding the conception. This had to have been proved beyond doubt and thus embedded into the liturgy along with its own day. And one of those who was instrumental in this dogma was the Mallorcan Ramon Llull. The Immaculate Conception of 8 December thus gave birth, so to speak, to the birthdate: 8 September.
Llull, among the many other things for which he is noted, wrote the words of the Lament of the Virgin about the suffering of Christ. It is a text that in its musical form features at Lluc monastery in the Tramuntana, the spiritual land of Mallorca. In those mountains, Llull established his place of learning - Miramar in Valldemossa. The philosophy of the Immaculate Conception and events nine months later can be linked to the mountains of Mallorca.
The monastery is the focal point for the culmination for this week of spirituality. 12 September is the day of the Virgin of Lluc, Mallorca's patron saint. The pilgrimage to the monastery will involve some 10,000 people setting off in the early hours. And once at the monastery, the reverence will be for "La Moreneta", the Black Madonna, the image of the Virgin Mary with its legend of discovery by a shepherd boy (Lluc), who was the son of Muslims who had converted to Christianity.
The legend dates back to the thirteenth century, to a time when Llull was active and when Mallorca was learning about what is now its Catalan heritage. This legacy, it is fair to say, resides in the consciousness, the spirituality if you like of the collective Mallorcan experience. It is one of stability that came from conquest, which created a Mallorcan identity that hadn't truly existed previously.
But into this mix enters the less than reverential, the tradition of the island's "most typical procession", this evening's La Beata in Santa Margalida. As with the Virgin of Lluc, La Beata - Santa Catalina Tomàs - is Mallorca's own. The irreverence arose from the nature of the procession and the comedic antics of demons.
I was aware that Rafael Manso, the Bishop of Mallorca in 1849, had sought the banning of the procession on the grounds that it raised "serious disorders and offences against God" and that it provoked much laughter. It has now come to light that there was a ban - of three years before the bishop relented. The fact that there was a ban only serves to confirm that within the island's spirituality there is also an element of fun and of resistance. It's that island thing.
La Beata represented a spiritual extension to a different land of Mallorca, one away from the mountains and into its farming plain. The legend of Santa Catalina, and the narrative for the procession, involves poor farm workers. Agricultural past and heritage collide with saintliness and irreverence in Santa Margalida and create a specific branch line of Mallorcan spirituality.
I have heard much about Mallorcan spirituality in recent months. In assimilating what this means, I conclude that it is a mix of religion, of symbols of religiosity, philosophy and learning, of the land (especially the Tramuntana) and the strong vestiges of the past that remain, and also of a streak of irreverence, of mischievousness, of insularity.
The next few days, starting today, bring much of this together. This is a week which might be said to epitomise Mallorcan spirituality, which combines an essentially religious element with the land, philosophy and mischief-making through celebrations that are, with two out of three examples, specifically Mallorcan.
The one that is broader than Mallorca alone is the day of the Mare de Déu on 8 September. The birthdate of the Virgin Mary, it does, nevertheless, have a direct connection with Mallorca. For the birthdate to have been established in Catholic tradition there had to have been the dogma regarding the conception. This had to have been proved beyond doubt and thus embedded into the liturgy along with its own day. And one of those who was instrumental in this dogma was the Mallorcan Ramon Llull. The Immaculate Conception of 8 December thus gave birth, so to speak, to the birthdate: 8 September.
Llull, among the many other things for which he is noted, wrote the words of the Lament of the Virgin about the suffering of Christ. It is a text that in its musical form features at Lluc monastery in the Tramuntana, the spiritual land of Mallorca. In those mountains, Llull established his place of learning - Miramar in Valldemossa. The philosophy of the Immaculate Conception and events nine months later can be linked to the mountains of Mallorca.
The monastery is the focal point for the culmination for this week of spirituality. 12 September is the day of the Virgin of Lluc, Mallorca's patron saint. The pilgrimage to the monastery will involve some 10,000 people setting off in the early hours. And once at the monastery, the reverence will be for "La Moreneta", the Black Madonna, the image of the Virgin Mary with its legend of discovery by a shepherd boy (Lluc), who was the son of Muslims who had converted to Christianity.
The legend dates back to the thirteenth century, to a time when Llull was active and when Mallorca was learning about what is now its Catalan heritage. This legacy, it is fair to say, resides in the consciousness, the spirituality if you like of the collective Mallorcan experience. It is one of stability that came from conquest, which created a Mallorcan identity that hadn't truly existed previously.
But into this mix enters the less than reverential, the tradition of the island's "most typical procession", this evening's La Beata in Santa Margalida. As with the Virgin of Lluc, La Beata - Santa Catalina Tomàs - is Mallorca's own. The irreverence arose from the nature of the procession and the comedic antics of demons.
I was aware that Rafael Manso, the Bishop of Mallorca in 1849, had sought the banning of the procession on the grounds that it raised "serious disorders and offences against God" and that it provoked much laughter. It has now come to light that there was a ban - of three years before the bishop relented. The fact that there was a ban only serves to confirm that within the island's spirituality there is also an element of fun and of resistance. It's that island thing.
La Beata represented a spiritual extension to a different land of Mallorca, one away from the mountains and into its farming plain. The legend of Santa Catalina, and the narrative for the procession, involves poor farm workers. Agricultural past and heritage collide with saintliness and irreverence in Santa Margalida and create a specific branch line of Mallorcan spirituality.
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
The Most Typical Contemporary Procession
Most typical or most representative, however one chooses to translate the slogan of Santa Margalida's La Beata procession, its typicalness or representativeness is now very much more contemporary than its telling of a legend from the mists of time. It is the political-statement procession for the current day, a parade of causes and interests, and all of them ones that would find favour with the independent socialist republic of Santa Margalida, which did after all invite their standard bearers.
Santa Margalida's town hall administration is one of Mallorca's finest examples of anti-Bauzáism. It is splendidly antagonistic towards the Partido Popular regional government. Anything the government does or says, and the town hall will disagree. It hasn't always been so, but when the Suma pel Canvi stormed to election victory in 2011, a very different tone was set at the Casa Vila. The Suma, a coalition of independents and PSOE, had at its head the battling veteran hardman of the left, Miguel Cifre, who has since handed the mayoral wand to his Dave Spart protégé, Toni Reus.
The tone under Toni has not changed, and it was evident from those who attended this year's most typical procession. Among its number were the now-restored-from-hunger-strike Catalan independentist and teacher Jaume Sastre, one of the key members of the Assemblea de Docents teachers' organisation. Others included representatives from the eco warriors GOB and the Consell de Joventut de les Illes Balears, a youth organisation which was once given an award for its promotion of Catalan language and culture.
Most typically for this most typical of processions, one would expect the numbers to be swelled by very important persons of Balearic political high command. They were conspicuous by their absence. There was no José Ramón Bauzá. There was no president of the Council of Mallorca, Maria Salom; there was no tourism minister, Jaime Martínez; there was no minister for education, Joana Camps. They all thought it wise not to attend. Neither Bauzá nor Camps was exposed, therefore, to the prospect of attempting small talk with Sastre during the embarrassing period prior to taking the walk behind La Beata when they have to sit next to each other on the temporary terraced seating reserved for dignitaries. There have been deliciously awkward moments in the past when rivals have been forced by protocol to shake hands or do the two-kiss thing through clearly clenched teeth. But they would not have been as awkward as if Camps had felt obliged to engage Sastre in the double-peck treatment.
Martínez probably felt that it was for the best for him and Reus not to have had to have pressed sweaty palms together. Reus doesn't think much to the tourism law, having invoked human rights as a reason why the ordinary people of Can Picafort should be able to rent out their holiday properties to whomsoever they want to. Salom has butted heads with the town hall over various matters, such as the dump for waste in the town, access to which the town hall had threatened to block.
No, it was sensible for them all to have discovered that they had other more pressing engagements. Their absence, though, meant that someone had to draw the short straw and put in an appearance. And so poor old (young) Marti Sansaloni, the health minister, was instructed to turn up. He must have been horrified at the prospect. The town hall has not forgotten the Alpha Pam affair. The name of the Senegalese illegal immigrant from Can Picafort who died as a result of having been denied treatment at Inca hospital is still very much remembered in Santa Margalida. There are still those who believe that Sansaloni should have resigned or have been brought before a court.
Fiestas can be occasions for protest. The Festival of the Standard in Palma at New Year is an event which is particularly vulnerable in this regard, and there has been unpleasantness and violence. It is a festival which encapsulates much of the anti- and pro-Catalan sentiment on the island. The Sant Antoni fiesta in Sa Pobla is another potential flashpoint, and President Bauzá has not been made to feel too welcome. Perhaps the most serious incident was that in Felanitx at the Sant Agustí fiesta in August 2011 where tear gas was used during the supposedly humorous "palio" by which prominent politicians run a gauntlet. Bauzá has never attended it, but Salom was there in 2011.
La Beata, though, has become the most politicised of the fiesta occasions. It is unlikely that any serious disturbance would have occurred this year had Bauzá shown up (he did go last year and there wasn't trouble), but things have moved on since last year. Divisions are even more in evidence, and so they proved to be, as demonstrated by those who didn't attend.
Santa Margalida's town hall administration is one of Mallorca's finest examples of anti-Bauzáism. It is splendidly antagonistic towards the Partido Popular regional government. Anything the government does or says, and the town hall will disagree. It hasn't always been so, but when the Suma pel Canvi stormed to election victory in 2011, a very different tone was set at the Casa Vila. The Suma, a coalition of independents and PSOE, had at its head the battling veteran hardman of the left, Miguel Cifre, who has since handed the mayoral wand to his Dave Spart protégé, Toni Reus.
The tone under Toni has not changed, and it was evident from those who attended this year's most typical procession. Among its number were the now-restored-from-hunger-strike Catalan independentist and teacher Jaume Sastre, one of the key members of the Assemblea de Docents teachers' organisation. Others included representatives from the eco warriors GOB and the Consell de Joventut de les Illes Balears, a youth organisation which was once given an award for its promotion of Catalan language and culture.
Most typically for this most typical of processions, one would expect the numbers to be swelled by very important persons of Balearic political high command. They were conspicuous by their absence. There was no José Ramón Bauzá. There was no president of the Council of Mallorca, Maria Salom; there was no tourism minister, Jaime Martínez; there was no minister for education, Joana Camps. They all thought it wise not to attend. Neither Bauzá nor Camps was exposed, therefore, to the prospect of attempting small talk with Sastre during the embarrassing period prior to taking the walk behind La Beata when they have to sit next to each other on the temporary terraced seating reserved for dignitaries. There have been deliciously awkward moments in the past when rivals have been forced by protocol to shake hands or do the two-kiss thing through clearly clenched teeth. But they would not have been as awkward as if Camps had felt obliged to engage Sastre in the double-peck treatment.
Martínez probably felt that it was for the best for him and Reus not to have had to have pressed sweaty palms together. Reus doesn't think much to the tourism law, having invoked human rights as a reason why the ordinary people of Can Picafort should be able to rent out their holiday properties to whomsoever they want to. Salom has butted heads with the town hall over various matters, such as the dump for waste in the town, access to which the town hall had threatened to block.
No, it was sensible for them all to have discovered that they had other more pressing engagements. Their absence, though, meant that someone had to draw the short straw and put in an appearance. And so poor old (young) Marti Sansaloni, the health minister, was instructed to turn up. He must have been horrified at the prospect. The town hall has not forgotten the Alpha Pam affair. The name of the Senegalese illegal immigrant from Can Picafort who died as a result of having been denied treatment at Inca hospital is still very much remembered in Santa Margalida. There are still those who believe that Sansaloni should have resigned or have been brought before a court.
Fiestas can be occasions for protest. The Festival of the Standard in Palma at New Year is an event which is particularly vulnerable in this regard, and there has been unpleasantness and violence. It is a festival which encapsulates much of the anti- and pro-Catalan sentiment on the island. The Sant Antoni fiesta in Sa Pobla is another potential flashpoint, and President Bauzá has not been made to feel too welcome. Perhaps the most serious incident was that in Felanitx at the Sant Agustí fiesta in August 2011 where tear gas was used during the supposedly humorous "palio" by which prominent politicians run a gauntlet. Bauzá has never attended it, but Salom was there in 2011.
La Beata, though, has become the most politicised of the fiesta occasions. It is unlikely that any serious disturbance would have occurred this year had Bauzá shown up (he did go last year and there wasn't trouble), but things have moved on since last year. Divisions are even more in evidence, and so they proved to be, as demonstrated by those who didn't attend.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Saint John: A movable feast
There are fiestas for Sant Joan in several Mallorcan towns - Calvia, Deià, Mancor de la Vall, Muro, Portopetro and Son Servera - but there aren't in Sant Joan. Or rather, there are, but only partially in order to celebrate the summer solstice and the birth of Saint John the Baptist. The town's Sant Joan fiestas are in fact at the end of August. Sant Joan Degollat. The day of the beheading.
So, why does the town opt to honour the saint's gory end rather than his birthday? The reason, so it would seem, lies with traditions of the harvest. Until 1919, there was a midsummer Sant Joan fiesta, but because the local farmers were so busy in the fields and didn't have time for enjoying themselves, they moved things to the end of August.
Albeit that 29 August marks a rather unfortunate event, Saint John losing his head, there is at least a sound reason for moving the feast. Other movable feasts have less obvious justification. Those for Santa Catalina Thomàs being a good example. The saint was born in May, died in April, was beatified in August and was canonised in June. Logically therefore, Valldemossa, where she was born, celebrates her in July. Even more logically, Santa Margalida's La Beata in her honour takes place in September. Feasts can indeed be movable, and the reason why Santa Margalida does her in September is the same reason why Sant Joan does Saint John at the end of August. The harvest.
Santa Catalina is, however, a rather unusual saint in that she is a sort of commoner saint. You won't find her in the Bible because she wasn't born until the sixteenth century. Perhaps, therefore, it is easier to move non-Biblical saints' days around. Just find a date that suits everyone and have a fiesta.
Someone who most certainly did feature in the Bible was Jesus. In Alcúdia, he has a feast which was moved for no obvious rhyme nor reason. Sant Crist, an alternative title for Jesus, occurs on 26 July. Once every three years. Yet, the background to this celebration is something which happened on 24 February, 1507. This was the day when an image of Christ apparently sweated blood and water and performed a miracle, ridding Alcúdia of all manner of plague, pestilence, famine and what have you. So, why July and indeed why every three years? It was a decision of the local church, one on cost grounds. Sant Crist was tagged on to the town's Sant Jaume fiestas as a way of saving money, while the decision to hold it once every three years was because Sant Crist became a seriously big deal for the whole of Mallorca. Alcúdia couldn't cope with all those pilgrims descending on the town every year.
But to return to John the Baptist and to better times when he still had his head, Sant Joan does have a midsummer celebration: Sol que Balla, the sun dance. On 24 June, the townsfolk, and especially the town's children, watch the sun rise and have a dance, and the bells of the church are rung. As such therefore, the celebration isn't anything to do with John the Baptist. It's one of those happy coincidences that he happened to be born at the same time as the summer solstice occurred, which has allowed there to be two celebrations in one ever since.
The solstice element of Sant Joan fiestas around Mallorca is no better celebrated than in Calvia. The tradition of wearing white, having a picnic on the beach, lighting candles (or starting a fire), taking a cleansing and purifying dip in the sea at midnight has caught on elsewhere, in places where there is no Sant Joan celebration. Strictly speaking, starting fires on the beach are not allowed at any time, let alone around midnight on 23 June, but it is quite possible that you might encounter one or two. This is, after all, the night of the fires, an ancient ritual for the solstice.
Whatever you do for midsummer's night and for the fiestas of Sant Joan, enjoy yourselves, but don't go losing your head.
Photo: Sol que Balla from Klaus's Mallorca Photo Blog, June 2009, http://mallorcaphotoblog.com/2009/06/
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Losing The Heartland: President Bauzá
If you read the programmes for fiestas, you will always find an entry in the schedule for the "arrival of the authorities (aka the dignitaries)". Normally, this just refers to a mayor and a few of his or her town-hall acolytes. Occasionally, however, it refers to dignitaries of a higher order, such as the president of the Balearics. It all depends on the importance and standing of the fiesta in question.
Two of the most important fiestas in Mallorca - in fact, the two most important - are those of Sant Antoni in Sa Pobla and La Beata in Santa Margalida. At the second of these, staged in early September, the dignitaries have already arrived and have been perched on temporary seating before officially arriving (so to speak) and following the procession of La Beata as she faces temptations by devils and the smashing of terracotta jars.
La Beata is the self-proclaimed "most typical" fiesta in Mallorca and for this reason it attracts the dignitaries that it does; it is a must-be-seen-at event for the grand order of Mallorcan politicians. Sa Pobla's Sant Antoni is similar to La Beata insofar as it is an occasion of island-wide significance, so therefore an occasion for the great and good (sic) to attend, and is staged in a town which lays claim to being the sort of spiritual home to Mallorca's Catalanism. Santa Margalida, a town once removed from Sa Pobla (Muro's between them), might also put a bid in for this title were it not for it having a different claim - its status as a "vila", an old categorisation and one that is unique to Santa Margalida. It may not really mean much nowadays, but the people of Santa Margalida maintain its importance by referring to themselves as "vilers".
Whatever the different claims of the two towns, they share in common the fact that they are both extremely Mallorcan. The same, one could say, applies to any town in Mallorca which isn't Palma or Calvia, but nowhere else has quite the Mallorcan kudos as Sa Pobla or Santa Margalida; they are the repositories of centuries-old ruralism, tradition, culture and language, augmented by heavy doses of the religion thing in the shape of Sant Antoni and Santa Catalina.
The two fiestas have, however, posed something of a conundrum over the past couple of years for politicians-in-attendance: one in particular, i.e. President Bauzá. In both 2012 and 2013, his appearance at La Beata was confirmed only at the last minute. In 2012, he had initially been banned (or not invited at any rate) by former mayor, the battling, veteran hard man of the left, Miguel Cifre. In the end, he was invited, as he was last year. But these were invites without any great enthusiasm.
What had led Cifre to not issue an invite was what happened when Bauzá performed his Cook's Tour of Partido Popular HQs in various towns. In Santa Margalida the town's centre became a virtual no-go area because of security and after the visit there were insinuations (from a PP source) of the townspeople being violent. Cifre was mightily displeased. In Sa Pobla, during the same tour of the party faithful out in the sticks, there were jeers and disturbances when the president appeared.
Perhaps because La Beata is a rather more solemn affair than Sant Antoni, Bauzá has been able to get away with going to Santa Margalida without there being too much of a fuss. In Sa Pobla, however, and despite it having a PP mayor, he has stayed away from Sant Antoni for the past two years. Having been greeted by abuse and booing in 2012, he has headed off to the quiet of Menorca instead.
It might be thought fair enough that he prefers not to be subjected to abuse or to cause a security issue, but his non-appearance at Sant Antoni, taken together with the uncertainties that have surrounded his attendance at La Beata, amount to rather more than anxieties over what sort of a reception he will get. These are fiestas in heartland Mallorca; heartland not just in a geographical sense. If Bauzá cannot attend or if there are question marks over his attendance, then he has lost this heartland, and in the process an empathy with the heart of Mallorca has also been lost.
Mallorca seems like two places. One place is Palma and its suburbs of Calvia and Marratxí (Bauzá's old stomping ground). The other place is the rest. The now broken Bauzá-Delgado axis was representative of this separation; a cosmopolitan Spanishness at variance with and out of step with the insular instincts of the "part forana". It is a division which could be styled as the new versus the old, but this is not so. It is a division in terms of an island's psyche.
Bauzá has faced an enormous challenge because of the economic circumstances which he inherited. He was always bound to therefore come up against opposition, but handling of the islands' economy is really the least of it. Had he stuck to this, then he would not have lost the heartland. But he hasn't. And in instituting policies that he has, he has created a polarity of two Mallorcas pulling in opposite directions.
Two of the most important fiestas in Mallorca - in fact, the two most important - are those of Sant Antoni in Sa Pobla and La Beata in Santa Margalida. At the second of these, staged in early September, the dignitaries have already arrived and have been perched on temporary seating before officially arriving (so to speak) and following the procession of La Beata as she faces temptations by devils and the smashing of terracotta jars.
La Beata is the self-proclaimed "most typical" fiesta in Mallorca and for this reason it attracts the dignitaries that it does; it is a must-be-seen-at event for the grand order of Mallorcan politicians. Sa Pobla's Sant Antoni is similar to La Beata insofar as it is an occasion of island-wide significance, so therefore an occasion for the great and good (sic) to attend, and is staged in a town which lays claim to being the sort of spiritual home to Mallorca's Catalanism. Santa Margalida, a town once removed from Sa Pobla (Muro's between them), might also put a bid in for this title were it not for it having a different claim - its status as a "vila", an old categorisation and one that is unique to Santa Margalida. It may not really mean much nowadays, but the people of Santa Margalida maintain its importance by referring to themselves as "vilers".
Whatever the different claims of the two towns, they share in common the fact that they are both extremely Mallorcan. The same, one could say, applies to any town in Mallorca which isn't Palma or Calvia, but nowhere else has quite the Mallorcan kudos as Sa Pobla or Santa Margalida; they are the repositories of centuries-old ruralism, tradition, culture and language, augmented by heavy doses of the religion thing in the shape of Sant Antoni and Santa Catalina.
The two fiestas have, however, posed something of a conundrum over the past couple of years for politicians-in-attendance: one in particular, i.e. President Bauzá. In both 2012 and 2013, his appearance at La Beata was confirmed only at the last minute. In 2012, he had initially been banned (or not invited at any rate) by former mayor, the battling, veteran hard man of the left, Miguel Cifre. In the end, he was invited, as he was last year. But these were invites without any great enthusiasm.
What had led Cifre to not issue an invite was what happened when Bauzá performed his Cook's Tour of Partido Popular HQs in various towns. In Santa Margalida the town's centre became a virtual no-go area because of security and after the visit there were insinuations (from a PP source) of the townspeople being violent. Cifre was mightily displeased. In Sa Pobla, during the same tour of the party faithful out in the sticks, there were jeers and disturbances when the president appeared.
Perhaps because La Beata is a rather more solemn affair than Sant Antoni, Bauzá has been able to get away with going to Santa Margalida without there being too much of a fuss. In Sa Pobla, however, and despite it having a PP mayor, he has stayed away from Sant Antoni for the past two years. Having been greeted by abuse and booing in 2012, he has headed off to the quiet of Menorca instead.
It might be thought fair enough that he prefers not to be subjected to abuse or to cause a security issue, but his non-appearance at Sant Antoni, taken together with the uncertainties that have surrounded his attendance at La Beata, amount to rather more than anxieties over what sort of a reception he will get. These are fiestas in heartland Mallorca; heartland not just in a geographical sense. If Bauzá cannot attend or if there are question marks over his attendance, then he has lost this heartland, and in the process an empathy with the heart of Mallorca has also been lost.
Mallorca seems like two places. One place is Palma and its suburbs of Calvia and Marratxí (Bauzá's old stomping ground). The other place is the rest. The now broken Bauzá-Delgado axis was representative of this separation; a cosmopolitan Spanishness at variance with and out of step with the insular instincts of the "part forana". It is a division which could be styled as the new versus the old, but this is not so. It is a division in terms of an island's psyche.
Bauzá has faced an enormous challenge because of the economic circumstances which he inherited. He was always bound to therefore come up against opposition, but handling of the islands' economy is really the least of it. Had he stuck to this, then he would not have lost the heartland. But he hasn't. And in instituting policies that he has, he has created a polarity of two Mallorcas pulling in opposite directions.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Cifre accused of politicising La Beata procession
In the end the La Beata procession, attended by President Bauzá, went off without any real incident, but former mayor of Santa Margalida, Martí Torres (Partido Popular) has accused socialist mayor, Miquel Cifre, of politicising the event through the presence of "senyera" bows and of having provoked conflict over several months.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Monday, September 03, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Bauzá and Pastor meet at La Beata procession
President Bauzá attended the La Beata celebrations in Santa Margalida yesterday after all, briefly greeting Antoni Pastor, the mayor of Manacor who was expelled from the Partido Popular because of his stance on Catalan. The "senyera" flag was in evidence at the celebrations, the main part of which was the annual procession by La Beata (Santa Catalina Thomàs).
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Sunday, August 26, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Senyera accompanies Santa Margalida hay festival
The "festa del batre" (literally the festival of beating) was revived last year as part of Santa Margalida's La Beata fiestas. It was a former tradition to highlight the town's agriculture and specifically the harvesting of hay. It is a most welcome revival as the townspeople dress up in traditional farming attire to head off for the "batre" and then have a party in the town. This year, to give added political flavour, the "senyera" flag (that of the old Kingdom of Aragon) accompanied the harvesters.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Pastor invited to Santa Margalida La Beata
Santa Margalida town hall has invited Antoni Pastor, the mayor of Manacor, to attend the La Beata procession next month. This is highly symbolic as President Bauzá has been invited only on the understanding that his visit does not bring with it huge security measures (which it almost certainly would) and as Pastor, now officially expelled from the Partido Popular, is considered a great defender of Catalan, having gone against the Bauzá and party line on the language issue.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Bauzá is invited to La Beata but ...
Santa Margalida's mayor Miguel Cifre has issued an invitation to President Bauzá to attend the traditional La Beata procession in September, but he has made it clear that the president's presence should not be accompanied by the same security measures that the mayor found unacceptable when the president visited the town in May.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Sunday, July 22, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Patrona and La Beata: the election results
In Pollensa they elect Joan Mas and Dragut to lead the Moors and Christians battle at the climax to the Patrona fiestas. In Santa Margalida they elect a local "girl" to be the Santa Catalina Thomàs in the procession for La Beata in September. In Pollensa the voting is open to residents over the age of 16. In Santa Margalida it's down to the nuns. And the winners are: Jaume Cànaves will be Joan Mas; Miquel Vives will be Dragut and María del Mar Quetglas will play Catalina.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Diario de Mallorca
Friday, June 29, 2012
The Lonely Goatherd
Here's a quiz question for you. Which long-running radio quiz show featured "Mabel at the table" (and also Violet Carson, aka Ena Sharples, on piano)? The answer is "Have A Go" and it was presented by Wilfred Pickles.
Mallorca has a Mabel who is unlikely to be invited to a particular table and who is in a bit of a pickle. Uninvited, this Mabel will be a lonely goatherd, for her surname (Cabrer) means just this - goatherd. High on a hill she will be left, not beckoned down unless she says sorry.
The table to which Mabel may well not be invited would be one reserved for political worthies of the island attending the La Beata fiesta in Santa Margalida in September. Goat isn't eaten as much as it used to be, but La Beata being about the most traditional of the fiestas, it may well be served up. Mabel will not, however, be on hand to provide the goat.
In a pickle, Mabel has also made a bit of a goat of herself. Or at least this is a conclusion one can draw from some of the facts surrounding the protests against President Bauzá last month, which form the background to Mabel being in a pickle. In Artà, for example, there was nary an incident worthy of note, yet Mabel seemed to suggest during a parliamentary session (she is the Partido Popular's spokesperson) that there were violent attacks with batteries, coins, iron balls, pigs' tongues, insults and aggression. Actually, she didn't suggest; this is pretty much word for word what she said. Artà town hall is scandalized. As also is Santa Margalida's.
There were more obvious acts of aggression in Santa Margalida, but there was also a very heavy police presence, one that prevented residents from moving around normally in the centre of the town. Mabel's charges of violence by protesters have implied that Santa Margalida is a violent town full of hooligans.
Talk about a red rag to a bull or the utterances of a goatherd to a veteran socialist. Mayor Miguel Cifre is most definitely not a happy bunny. A previous demand that Mabel apologises for her implication, one echoed in Artà, has now become a demand that she asks to be pardoned. So, they might be prepared to excuse her, if she asks very nicely, or they might not be. Either way, if this request for a pardon is not forthcoming, Mabel will truly be a lonely goatherd on the evening of the La Beata procession because she will not have been invited. So there.
Because of La Beata's importance in the fiesta scheme of things, it is traditional to invite political leaders to this most traditional of fiestas and in particular to the La Beata procession. This is the one where the Saint Catalina rejects the advances of and temptation by the devil. Right now, the PP is being cast in the role of the devil, and the unfortunate Mabel is copping for the full trident treatment.
What should she do? Beg for mercy and she might get an invite. Ignore the demand and she definitely won't. She might be best advised to let it be known that she won't be able to attend anyway; washing her hair or something like that. Were she to attend, apology or no apology, there's almost bound to be a bit of bother. The town hall is minded to not invite the president either, as it doesn't want a repeat of the police presence. If Mabel were to attend, with or without Bauzá, the Guardia would probably feel obliged to have to make its presence felt, which is hardly in keeping with a traditional fiesta procession.
What all the rumpus in Artà and Santa Margalida confirms is the degree to which division is occurring in Mallorca. The regions are none too happy with the PP, support for which resides most obviously in the capital Palma. In Manacor, Antoni Pastor (the Shepherd to Mabel's Goatherd) has formed an alliance with various groups in establishing a virtual independent state, one in which the PP has caused disaffection. In Pollensa, the fines for protesters continue to cause discontent. Goatherds or not, some PP representatives in the regions might well be feeling increasingly lonely.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Mallorca has a Mabel who is unlikely to be invited to a particular table and who is in a bit of a pickle. Uninvited, this Mabel will be a lonely goatherd, for her surname (Cabrer) means just this - goatherd. High on a hill she will be left, not beckoned down unless she says sorry.
The table to which Mabel may well not be invited would be one reserved for political worthies of the island attending the La Beata fiesta in Santa Margalida in September. Goat isn't eaten as much as it used to be, but La Beata being about the most traditional of the fiestas, it may well be served up. Mabel will not, however, be on hand to provide the goat.
In a pickle, Mabel has also made a bit of a goat of herself. Or at least this is a conclusion one can draw from some of the facts surrounding the protests against President Bauzá last month, which form the background to Mabel being in a pickle. In Artà, for example, there was nary an incident worthy of note, yet Mabel seemed to suggest during a parliamentary session (she is the Partido Popular's spokesperson) that there were violent attacks with batteries, coins, iron balls, pigs' tongues, insults and aggression. Actually, she didn't suggest; this is pretty much word for word what she said. Artà town hall is scandalized. As also is Santa Margalida's.
There were more obvious acts of aggression in Santa Margalida, but there was also a very heavy police presence, one that prevented residents from moving around normally in the centre of the town. Mabel's charges of violence by protesters have implied that Santa Margalida is a violent town full of hooligans.
Talk about a red rag to a bull or the utterances of a goatherd to a veteran socialist. Mayor Miguel Cifre is most definitely not a happy bunny. A previous demand that Mabel apologises for her implication, one echoed in Artà, has now become a demand that she asks to be pardoned. So, they might be prepared to excuse her, if she asks very nicely, or they might not be. Either way, if this request for a pardon is not forthcoming, Mabel will truly be a lonely goatherd on the evening of the La Beata procession because she will not have been invited. So there.
Because of La Beata's importance in the fiesta scheme of things, it is traditional to invite political leaders to this most traditional of fiestas and in particular to the La Beata procession. This is the one where the Saint Catalina rejects the advances of and temptation by the devil. Right now, the PP is being cast in the role of the devil, and the unfortunate Mabel is copping for the full trident treatment.
What should she do? Beg for mercy and she might get an invite. Ignore the demand and she definitely won't. She might be best advised to let it be known that she won't be able to attend anyway; washing her hair or something like that. Were she to attend, apology or no apology, there's almost bound to be a bit of bother. The town hall is minded to not invite the president either, as it doesn't want a repeat of the police presence. If Mabel were to attend, with or without Bauzá, the Guardia would probably feel obliged to have to make its presence felt, which is hardly in keeping with a traditional fiesta procession.
What all the rumpus in Artà and Santa Margalida confirms is the degree to which division is occurring in Mallorca. The regions are none too happy with the PP, support for which resides most obviously in the capital Palma. In Manacor, Antoni Pastor (the Shepherd to Mabel's Goatherd) has formed an alliance with various groups in establishing a virtual independent state, one in which the PP has caused disaffection. In Pollensa, the fines for protesters continue to cause discontent. Goatherds or not, some PP representatives in the regions might well be feeling increasingly lonely.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
What every girl dreams. If she lives in Santa Margalida. At the weekend, Francisca Oliver Fornés was chosen to be La Beata, the saint Catalina Thomàs. Requirements for being selected include having participated as an attendant in previous Beata ceremonies, being church-going, single and eighteen. To be nominated as La Beata is quite some honour. The fiesta in September is often referred to as Mallorca's most traditional, La Beata herself acting out the refusal to be tempted by the devil.
Single, eighteen, not necessarily church-going and not necessarily inclined to turn down temptation. The contrast between a weekend ceremony to select the current-day embodiment of a saint and a weekend ceremony of unsaintliness is stark. At a similar time to Francisca's selection, the Districte 54 party in Sa Pobla was rumbling. The mayor of Sa Pobla has been forced to apologise to the people of the town. Mess, noise, lack of respect, excessive drinking. What on earth had he expected?
The mayor had wanted the party reinstated as part of the town's fiestas. It was largely his doing that it took place this year. It was he who had criticised the previous administration for not staging it last year. It was he who said that it brought economic benefits and a load of people from across the island.
He was not wrong in respect of the numbers attending. But the numbers, as with other fiesta parties, are swelled by those who, thanks to social networks, know full well that there's to be a botellón. The street-drinking parties are happening everywhere. Organised through Facebook and what have you, they are creating attendances at the parties so large that villages and towns cannot cope. They are being overwhelmed by people, by drunkenness and violence. I ask again: what on earth had the mayor expected?
Districte 54, more than most of the parties, is a magnet for trouble. It's why it was banned last year. Nevertheless, the town decided to go ahead with it again, with the result that the police had to respond to numerous complaints and the medical services were needed to treat those who were totally off their faces.
Mayor Serra says that there will not be a repetition; that if the party happens again, it won't take place slap bang in the centre of the town. It might find a convenient finca somewhere in the countryside, which is what they have done in Maria de la Salut, and the parties there pass off without much incident.
Whether it happens again or not, the trouble at Districte 54 is further evidence of the degree to which the fiesta parties have grown in size to the point at which they are out of control. The wishes of town halls to limit street drinking botellóns, as in Pollensa, are not being met because the social networks enable people to find ways around whatever controls might be put in place. The town halls seem to have failed utterly to comprehend how modern communications work.
The traditional Mallorcan fiesta has broken down and has been taken over by DJs and cheap booze. And this breakdown in tradition isn't simply one that can be styled as being down to the generation gap. There is a division also within generations. Which is what Francisca represents. While she was being named Santa Margalida's Beata, the Santa Margalida herself was being defiled in Sa Pobla; Districte 54 was part of the Santa Margalida festivities.
The coincidence of this is one thing; the contrast another. Over one weekend in July, two separate happenings highlighted the way in which Mallorcan youth has split. The requirement for a Beata aspirant to demonstrate her good Catholic credentials seems almost quaint now. The church has lost much meaning for and support among the younger generation.
If you had to choose between the two, you would opt for Districte 54 and its attendant troubles as being more representative of Mallorcan youth than Francisca and La Beata. And if you do opt so, it kills, once and for all, the myth of Mallorcan (and Spanish) youth being unlike their British counterparts. You might recall that some while ago a report established that the level of alcohol intake among Spanish teenagers was as high if not higher and the frequency of drinking greater than that of British kids.
Of course, you can't and shouldn't tar every Mallorcan teenager and young person with the same alcoholic or violent brush, just as you shouldn't the British youth, but what can be said with some certainty is that a societal shift isn't underway; it has already happened. Temptation has been taken. And no amount of saintliness will put the devil back in the box.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Single, eighteen, not necessarily church-going and not necessarily inclined to turn down temptation. The contrast between a weekend ceremony to select the current-day embodiment of a saint and a weekend ceremony of unsaintliness is stark. At a similar time to Francisca's selection, the Districte 54 party in Sa Pobla was rumbling. The mayor of Sa Pobla has been forced to apologise to the people of the town. Mess, noise, lack of respect, excessive drinking. What on earth had he expected?
The mayor had wanted the party reinstated as part of the town's fiestas. It was largely his doing that it took place this year. It was he who had criticised the previous administration for not staging it last year. It was he who said that it brought economic benefits and a load of people from across the island.
He was not wrong in respect of the numbers attending. But the numbers, as with other fiesta parties, are swelled by those who, thanks to social networks, know full well that there's to be a botellón. The street-drinking parties are happening everywhere. Organised through Facebook and what have you, they are creating attendances at the parties so large that villages and towns cannot cope. They are being overwhelmed by people, by drunkenness and violence. I ask again: what on earth had the mayor expected?
Districte 54, more than most of the parties, is a magnet for trouble. It's why it was banned last year. Nevertheless, the town decided to go ahead with it again, with the result that the police had to respond to numerous complaints and the medical services were needed to treat those who were totally off their faces.
Mayor Serra says that there will not be a repetition; that if the party happens again, it won't take place slap bang in the centre of the town. It might find a convenient finca somewhere in the countryside, which is what they have done in Maria de la Salut, and the parties there pass off without much incident.
Whether it happens again or not, the trouble at Districte 54 is further evidence of the degree to which the fiesta parties have grown in size to the point at which they are out of control. The wishes of town halls to limit street drinking botellóns, as in Pollensa, are not being met because the social networks enable people to find ways around whatever controls might be put in place. The town halls seem to have failed utterly to comprehend how modern communications work.
The traditional Mallorcan fiesta has broken down and has been taken over by DJs and cheap booze. And this breakdown in tradition isn't simply one that can be styled as being down to the generation gap. There is a division also within generations. Which is what Francisca represents. While she was being named Santa Margalida's Beata, the Santa Margalida herself was being defiled in Sa Pobla; Districte 54 was part of the Santa Margalida festivities.
The coincidence of this is one thing; the contrast another. Over one weekend in July, two separate happenings highlighted the way in which Mallorcan youth has split. The requirement for a Beata aspirant to demonstrate her good Catholic credentials seems almost quaint now. The church has lost much meaning for and support among the younger generation.
If you had to choose between the two, you would opt for Districte 54 and its attendant troubles as being more representative of Mallorcan youth than Francisca and La Beata. And if you do opt so, it kills, once and for all, the myth of Mallorcan (and Spanish) youth being unlike their British counterparts. You might recall that some while ago a report established that the level of alcohol intake among Spanish teenagers was as high if not higher and the frequency of drinking greater than that of British kids.
Of course, you can't and shouldn't tar every Mallorcan teenager and young person with the same alcoholic or violent brush, just as you shouldn't the British youth, but what can be said with some certainty is that a societal shift isn't underway; it has already happened. Temptation has been taken. And no amount of saintliness will put the devil back in the box.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Pirates Are Here - Again: Fiesta elections
The annual voting season has been and gone. Did you miss it? Had you been in the old town of Pollensa last Friday you wouldn't have. Had you been in Santa Margalida on Sunday at the Augustine nuns' convent you wouldn't have.
The people of the two towns have had their votes. In Pollensa, some 3,500 of them took part in the election. Joan Mas and Dragut in Pollensa; Santa Catalina in Santa Margalida - Christian and Moor; la Beata. The Patrona battle between Moors and Christians will kick off, as normal, on 2 August; the procession of Beata will take place on the first Sunday of September. One Joan Ramon Armengual will be Joan (which seems appropriate - a Joan as a Joan): one Joan, there's only one Joan. Oh not there isn't; there are thousands of them, even in a small town like Pollensa. A Jaume Oliver will be the pirate Dragut, and Antònia Socies, la Beata. So now you know.
As usual, the victors can't quite believe it. It's the stuff of dreams, as usual. And not just for those heading the cast lists. Joan has his mates, Dragut his co-invaders, Beata her attendants. In Pollensa, there is even voting for members of the "old" town hall. There are any number of jobs for the boys and girls in the two towns, all part of the street theatre that is the battle and the Beata.
One of the unsuccesful Draguts was our old friend Toni, he of the Store Formentor at the Bellesreguard complex in Puerto Pollensa. He and his compatriots came halfway in the voting. He didn't seem too unhappy with the result. Not that fearsome though. If you're going to be part of some street theatre, you have, I suppose, to look the part. But simply racing around the old town, engaging in a bit of a bundle is not all there is to it. Joans have some lines to learn. One hopes they never fluff them: "Mare de Déu dels Àngels, assistiu-mos. Pollencins, aixecau-vos, que els pirates ja són aquí." How many times will the latest Joan be reciting these words over the next few days, in advance of the big moment? One trusts there'll be no stage fright.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The people of the two towns have had their votes. In Pollensa, some 3,500 of them took part in the election. Joan Mas and Dragut in Pollensa; Santa Catalina in Santa Margalida - Christian and Moor; la Beata. The Patrona battle between Moors and Christians will kick off, as normal, on 2 August; the procession of Beata will take place on the first Sunday of September. One Joan Ramon Armengual will be Joan (which seems appropriate - a Joan as a Joan): one Joan, there's only one Joan. Oh not there isn't; there are thousands of them, even in a small town like Pollensa. A Jaume Oliver will be the pirate Dragut, and Antònia Socies, la Beata. So now you know.
As usual, the victors can't quite believe it. It's the stuff of dreams, as usual. And not just for those heading the cast lists. Joan has his mates, Dragut his co-invaders, Beata her attendants. In Pollensa, there is even voting for members of the "old" town hall. There are any number of jobs for the boys and girls in the two towns, all part of the street theatre that is the battle and the Beata.
One of the unsuccesful Draguts was our old friend Toni, he of the Store Formentor at the Bellesreguard complex in Puerto Pollensa. He and his compatriots came halfway in the voting. He didn't seem too unhappy with the result. Not that fearsome though. If you're going to be part of some street theatre, you have, I suppose, to look the part. But simply racing around the old town, engaging in a bit of a bundle is not all there is to it. Joans have some lines to learn. One hopes they never fluff them: "Mare de Déu dels Àngels, assistiu-mos. Pollencins, aixecau-vos, que els pirates ja són aquí." How many times will the latest Joan be reciting these words over the next few days, in advance of the big moment? One trusts there'll be no stage fright.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Don’t Look Back In Anger
Santa Margalida. The town of which Can Picafort is a part. It’s an unremarkable place, not one that attracts much in the way of tourism. Unlike the old towns of Alcúdia and Pollensa, it is not a particularly pretty place; it does not have the arty atmosphere of Pollensa or the landscaped splendour from Pollensa’s Calvari or the imposing walled heritage of Alcúdia. Yet it does have one claim. The fiesta “La Beata” is one of Mallorca’s most traditional. It celebrates the beatification, in 1792, of Catalina Thomàs who, so the legend has it, was tested by the devil to abjure God and to fall into the satanic abyss. Or something like that.
For many locals, La Beata is an event more significant than Christmas or New Year, being one with which they can most closely identify. Anyway, on 2 September this year’s procession will take place, promising “new vitality”, whatever that might be.
Of course, being a fiesta jolly, it cannot fail to have its other events of a more secular nature. Amongst others, tomorrow night, is a series of concerts with various groups, including Oasis. That’s what it says. On the poster. Oasis. It is not as it seems.
(Acknowledgement to “Part Forana” from which some of the above is taken in translation.)
It seems somehow appropriate that today, 31 August, I should be talking about a legendary saint. Today is of course the 10th anniversary of the death of someone to whom some have granted the status of modern-day saint. Everyone wants his or her piece of Diana ten years after; everyone with an angle, a conspiracy, a royalist or non-royalist agenda. Everyone obsessed with a personality cult, obsessed with what-ifs, with beatifying or demonising her. She is, therefore, an industry for the malicious, the reverential, the lunatic, the cynical, the worshipper. Whatever she really was, and I’m certainly not going to add my views, I will never forget the shock having turned on the radio that Sunday morning ten years ago. Whatever she really was, I defy anyone to say that they were not also shocked and saddened. Whatever she really was, why - as the Bishop of London says - the “regular reports of fury at this or that incident”? As for now: can we not just let it go?
QUIZ
Yesterday - Isley Brothers, a good shout, but it was Notorious B.I.G. Today - Oasis were at number one in the album charts on 31 August 1997. Who was at one in the singles chart?
PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Index for August 2007
1967 - 2 August 2007, 3 August 2007, 6 August 2007
Alcúdia - 14 August 2007, 20 August 2007, 27 August 2007
Alcúdia Jazz - 26 August 2007
Alcúdia Pins - 20 August 2007
All-inclusives - 16 August 2007, 18 August 2007
Andratx - 29 August 2007
Balearic Government - 26 August 2007
Bars - 1 August 2007, 10 August 2007, 17 August 2007, 28 August 2007, 30 August 2007
Beaches - 17 August 2007
Bodegas - 23 August 2007
British products - 28 August 2007
Café Bony - 1 August 2007
Can Picafort - 2 August 2007, 18 August 2007
Can Vidalet - 23 August 2007
Canny Lad, The - 17 August 2007
Carretera Arta - 7 August 2007
Children’s entertainment - 19 August 2007, 28 August 2007
Climate change - 3 August 2007
Diana Princess of Wales - 31 August 2007
El Laberinto Giant Maze Fun Park - 19 August 2007
Elvis impersonators - 9 August 2007
Estate agents - 27 August 2007
Excursions - 19 August 2007
Fiestas - 2 August 2007, 18 August 2007, 21 August 2007, 31 August 2007
Floods - 22 August 2007
Football - 10 August 2007
Golf Alcanada - 9 August 2007
Hotels - 20 August 2007, 28 August 2007
Indian Palace - 3 August 2007
Interest rates - 2 August 2007, 27 August 2007
Jazz - 26 August 2007
Jellyfish - 6 August 2007
La Beata - 31 August 2007
La Gola - 26 August 2007
Lilos - 29 August 2007
Manhole covers - 15 August 2007
Mortgages - 27 August 2007
Museums - 27 August 2007
Naturism - 17 August 2007
Palma metro - 22 August 2007
Patrona - 21 August 2007
Piccadilly Bar - 28 August 2007
Playa de Muro - 17 August 2007, 20 August 2007
Pollentia - 27 August 2007
Property market - 27 August 2007
Property prices - 2 August 2007
Railways - 26 August 2007
Restaurants - 3 August 2007, 9 August 2007
Road accidents - 17 August 2007
Roads - 7 August 2007, 15 August 2007
Rodríguez Castelao, Joaquín - 29 August 2007
Rubber ducks - 18 August 2007
Santa Margalida - 31 August 2007
Sea - 6 August 2007
Soller - 28 August 2007
Storms - 14 August 2007, 21 August 2007, 22 August 2007
Supermarkets - 23 August 2007, 28 August 2007
Television - 10 August 2007
Tobacco - 15 August 2007
Tourism - 11 August 2007, 14 August 2007
Tourism economics - 6 August 2007, 7 August 2007, 15 August 2007
Tourist spend - 2 August 2007, 6 August 2007, 7 August 2007
Vamps - 30 August 2007
Water - 26 August 2007
Weather - 14 August 2007, 21 August 2007, 22 August 2007, 24 August 2007, 28 August 2007, 29 August 2007
Wine - 23 August 2007
For many locals, La Beata is an event more significant than Christmas or New Year, being one with which they can most closely identify. Anyway, on 2 September this year’s procession will take place, promising “new vitality”, whatever that might be.
Of course, being a fiesta jolly, it cannot fail to have its other events of a more secular nature. Amongst others, tomorrow night, is a series of concerts with various groups, including Oasis. That’s what it says. On the poster. Oasis. It is not as it seems.
(Acknowledgement to “Part Forana” from which some of the above is taken in translation.)
It seems somehow appropriate that today, 31 August, I should be talking about a legendary saint. Today is of course the 10th anniversary of the death of someone to whom some have granted the status of modern-day saint. Everyone wants his or her piece of Diana ten years after; everyone with an angle, a conspiracy, a royalist or non-royalist agenda. Everyone obsessed with a personality cult, obsessed with what-ifs, with beatifying or demonising her. She is, therefore, an industry for the malicious, the reverential, the lunatic, the cynical, the worshipper. Whatever she really was, and I’m certainly not going to add my views, I will never forget the shock having turned on the radio that Sunday morning ten years ago. Whatever she really was, I defy anyone to say that they were not also shocked and saddened. Whatever she really was, why - as the Bishop of London says - the “regular reports of fury at this or that incident”? As for now: can we not just let it go?
QUIZ
Yesterday - Isley Brothers, a good shout, but it was Notorious B.I.G. Today - Oasis were at number one in the album charts on 31 August 1997. Who was at one in the singles chart?
PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Index for August 2007
1967 - 2 August 2007, 3 August 2007, 6 August 2007
Alcúdia - 14 August 2007, 20 August 2007, 27 August 2007
Alcúdia Jazz - 26 August 2007
Alcúdia Pins - 20 August 2007
All-inclusives - 16 August 2007, 18 August 2007
Andratx - 29 August 2007
Balearic Government - 26 August 2007
Bars - 1 August 2007, 10 August 2007, 17 August 2007, 28 August 2007, 30 August 2007
Beaches - 17 August 2007
Bodegas - 23 August 2007
British products - 28 August 2007
Café Bony - 1 August 2007
Can Picafort - 2 August 2007, 18 August 2007
Can Vidalet - 23 August 2007
Canny Lad, The - 17 August 2007
Carretera Arta - 7 August 2007
Children’s entertainment - 19 August 2007, 28 August 2007
Climate change - 3 August 2007
Diana Princess of Wales - 31 August 2007
El Laberinto Giant Maze Fun Park - 19 August 2007
Elvis impersonators - 9 August 2007
Estate agents - 27 August 2007
Excursions - 19 August 2007
Fiestas - 2 August 2007, 18 August 2007, 21 August 2007, 31 August 2007
Floods - 22 August 2007
Football - 10 August 2007
Golf Alcanada - 9 August 2007
Hotels - 20 August 2007, 28 August 2007
Indian Palace - 3 August 2007
Interest rates - 2 August 2007, 27 August 2007
Jazz - 26 August 2007
Jellyfish - 6 August 2007
La Beata - 31 August 2007
La Gola - 26 August 2007
Lilos - 29 August 2007
Manhole covers - 15 August 2007
Mortgages - 27 August 2007
Museums - 27 August 2007
Naturism - 17 August 2007
Palma metro - 22 August 2007
Patrona - 21 August 2007
Piccadilly Bar - 28 August 2007
Playa de Muro - 17 August 2007, 20 August 2007
Pollentia - 27 August 2007
Property market - 27 August 2007
Property prices - 2 August 2007
Railways - 26 August 2007
Restaurants - 3 August 2007, 9 August 2007
Road accidents - 17 August 2007
Roads - 7 August 2007, 15 August 2007
Rodríguez Castelao, Joaquín - 29 August 2007
Rubber ducks - 18 August 2007
Santa Margalida - 31 August 2007
Sea - 6 August 2007
Soller - 28 August 2007
Storms - 14 August 2007, 21 August 2007, 22 August 2007
Supermarkets - 23 August 2007, 28 August 2007
Television - 10 August 2007
Tobacco - 15 August 2007
Tourism - 11 August 2007, 14 August 2007
Tourism economics - 6 August 2007, 7 August 2007, 15 August 2007
Tourist spend - 2 August 2007, 6 August 2007, 7 August 2007
Vamps - 30 August 2007
Water - 26 August 2007
Weather - 14 August 2007, 21 August 2007, 22 August 2007, 24 August 2007, 28 August 2007, 29 August 2007
Wine - 23 August 2007
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