The Miracle Of Alcudia's Sant Crist

Places of religious and historical significance exist in the most unlikely of locations in Mallorca. One of the oldest, if not the oldest example of human civilisation is surrounded by warehouses and other commercial buildings on the industrial estate in Can Picafort: this is the dolmen burial chamber of Son Baulo.

Not far from Can Picafort is a cave in Alcudia. It's just off the bypass road that goes behind the Bellevue complex. On one side of the road is another industrial estate and the chimney of the Es Murterar power station. On the Bellevue side is the cave, which is no great distance from one of the limits of the distinctly irreligious, predominantly all-inclusive chaotic sprawl of an early 1970s' campus in desperate need of some attention.

The road bisects Bellevue and the mountain (some say hill, others peak) that guards the entrance to Alcudia. It's called Sant Martí. So is the cave. They hold the occasional mass in this cave: just after Easter, for example. It's an important site not least because of what happened (supposedly) 509 years ago. They're celebrating this in Alcudia on Tuesday. Not, however, that the purpose of the celebration actually occurred on 26 July 1507. That, I'm afraid, would be far too simple.

Let's go back, if we really must, to the winter of 1506-1507. If one's being honest, this was not the best time to have been visiting Mallorca. Conditions were not always hospitable. There was general lawlessness, while famine, drought, pestilence and disease were rarely far away. With something of an echo of the winter that passed earlier this year, it didn't rain that winter of 1507. There was a winter drought.

When faced with such a situation, and unable to draw on a conveniently located desalination plant on Alcudia bay (as is nowadays the case), solutions were limited. But there was always one. Pray. And so, on 24 February 1507 there was to be a procession, a pleading and begging procession. Prayers were to be offered for rain, and the object of this great request was a saint: Christ the Saint, Sant Crist.

The story goes that the wooden image of the saint was paraded from the cave at Sant Marti and was then returned there. It was upon this return that the miracle of Sant Crist occurred (allegedly). One does have to take the word of various legal eminences of the time, such as Pere Joan Zaforteza, whose family name is the one of Mallorca's oldest and most noble. There were also, naturally enough, priests and the odd high official. They all maintained that the image of Sant Crist had sweated blood and water.

As can be imagined, when news spread of the miracle, pilgrims and the sick flocked to Alcudia from other parts of Mallorca. Further miracles may or may not have occurred. But what did occur was the harvest that year. Abundant or what. The saint had saved the people of Alcudia.

Subsequently, there was to be the founding of the chapel of Sant Crist at the church of Sant Jaume and a standardising of the celebration of the miracle. What seems to have happened is that all the pilgrims who had been coming along for getting on for two centuries had led to a deterioration in the condition of the image. In 1697, therefore, a commission took a decision. On this commission was another Zaforteza, who was the canon at the Cathedral in Palma. Between its members they concluded that the celebration of Sant Crist should not only be moved to July but also be held only once every three years. In that particular year, the actual celebration was on 28 July: this was because it was a Sunday. But the date for the future would be 26 July, the feast day for Christ's grandmother, Santa Anna, and the day after the feast day for Sant Jaume, the patron of the town and its church.

Why every three years though? Well, this seems to have been because the commission also concluded that staging it every year would a) represent too much of a fiesta opportunity for the locals (given Sant Jaume was the day before) and so too much temptation to not be totally religious and that it would b) cost too much.

The procession for Sant Crist is a very solemn affair. It takes place at midday on Tuesday, when the priests taking part will be praying that it won't be too baking hot. Last time, in 2013, it was; the odd priest keeled over in the heat. But prayers may be met. On the previous occasion, in 2010, guess what? It rained. Now there's a miracle for you.

Saint John: A movable feast

The town of Sant Joan rarely attracts a great deal of attention. This past week, for less than positive reasons, it has been attracting attention. But while the archaeologists have been undertaking the careful search of the remains of victims of Civil War murder, the people of the town have been otherwise engaged in preparations for the fiesta of Sant Joan. When your town is called Sant Joan, it would be impossible not to celebrate the fiesta. But hang on a minute, does the town celebrate the fiesta? Yes but no.

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/

History Repeating Itself: Sant Crist

It rained yesterday. Quite heavily. Miraculously even. The coincidence was even noted on Facebook. For yesterday was the triennial celebration of the miracle of Sant Crist which delivered the poor sods who lived in Alcúdia at the start of the sixteenth century from a period of drought, pestilence and all manner of privations of biblical proportions. On Sunday evening there was a special Via Fora street dramatisation of Sant Crist in the old town, one that featured a good friend of all things to do with the publications I'm involved with - Xisco at Sunwing. "Ultima Hora" described it as portraying the "leyenda" of Sant Crist: that word again - legend. For, as with many of the religious celebrations, there is a degree of, how can one put it, licence as to the reality of their origins, as there also is with their dating. Sant Crist shouldn't occur in July, as its date is in fact 24 February. Though even this might be open to interpretation.

In 2007, the town celebrated the 500th anniversary of Sant Crist. Three years ago. How time flies. While I get a distinct sense of history repeating itself when the annual fiestas roll around, a three-year lapse might be thought long enough to forget the previous occasion. Not so. I remember it well. And it was on this blog. There is something rather satisfying about the chronicling of events over a period of time. Three years seem like a long time, but they're not. Here is what was said about Sant Crist back then, and when I went back and located it, I was startled to find that the same piece had a photo of Mike and Jane Lynham at their leaving do. Was that really three years ago? It was.


From "The History Man", 21 July 2007:

"In 1507, Alcúdia and indeed the whole of the island was enduring a time of famine, plague and warring between competing dynasties. To add to this, Alcúdia had a threat of drought, which, in turn, threatened the harvest. In order to try and combat this, the local clergy and justices, organised a procession. It was to be a form of begging or pleading procession, the centrepiece of which would be an image of Christ on the cross, crafted from wood. The hope was that an adoration of and pleading to this image would lead to some form of deliverance from the misfortune that had befallen the local people.

The image was taken from the cave of Sant Martí, which is at the foot of the Puig (hill) Sant Martí, which overlooks Alcúdia. On returning to the cave, it was noted that the image oozed water and some drops of blood. This was subsequently confirmed by the religious men. The upshot of all this was that the next harvest was one of the best for many years, thus cementing the miracle of Sant Crist into local history, tradition and folklore. Whether you believe it or not (and as with most of these alleged miracles, they are implausible at best), is not really the point. The fact is that it is part of local history, mythology one might even venture. And it gives the clergy a chance to dress up and walk through the streets and for there to be a bit of a do.

And as to why every three years. In 1697 the then rector of the Sant Jaume church decreed as such. Moreover, they shifted the actual date from 28 July to 26 July, which also happens to be the date of Santa Anna.

So, now you know."


De Abarca
Following on from yesterday ... You can all sleep easy in your beds. He has been caught. And no, he wasn't in Albufera. He was found near Selva, quite some distance away.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The History Man

I am, for my sins, a history scholar. Or, at least, I have a history degree. History continues to fascinate. And living in a different society, there is a whole new history to learn. But I wonder how important history is to many visitors, or indeed to many of those who have decided to live and work here. My guess would be, not very. Or perhaps I’m wrong. Whatever, here is a very short history thing. On 26 July this year in Alcúdia, there is the 500th anniversary of the Sant Crist miracle, an event that takes place every three years.

As the name implies, the celebration is of Christ. The deal is thus:

In 1507, Alcúdia and indeed the whole of the island was enduring a time of famine, plague and warring between competing dynasties. To add to this, Alcúdia had a threat of drought, which, in turn, threatened the harvest. In order to try and combat this, the local clergy and justices, organised a procession. It was to be a form of begging or pleading procession, the centrepiece of which would be an image of Christ on the cross, crafted from wood. The hope was that an adoration of and pleading to this image would lead to some form of deliverance from the misfortune that had befallen the local people.

The image was taken from the cave of Sant Martí, which is at the foot of the Puig (hill) Sant Martí, which overlooks Alcúdia. On returning to the cave, it was noted that the image oozed water and some drops of blood. This was subsequently confirmed by the religious men. The upshot of all this was that the next harvest was one of the best for many years, thus cementing the miracle of Sant Crist into local history, tradition and folklore. Whether you believe it or not (and as with most of these alleged miracles, they are implausible at best), is not really the point. The fact is that it is part of local history, mythology one might even venture. And it gives the clergy a chance to dress up and walk through the streets and for there to be a bit of a do.

And as to why every three years. In 1697 the then rector of the Sant Jaume church decreed as such. Moreover, they shifted the actual date from 28 July to 26 July, which also happens to be the date of Santa Anna.

So, now you know.


From the sublime to the, well not ridiculous, but quite different. Just a note to say that Mike and Jane Lynham - Mr and Mrs Puddle Duck as they are often referred to - had their leaving thrash at the Crew Bar last night. The boat is about ready, we saw the photos of the place, and in a week or so they will set sail for a new life in Bulgaria.



Quiz: Simple Minds from the title track of “Street Fighting Years”. Norman “Hurricane” Smith who worked with The Beatles and Pink Floyd and had some truly dire hits of his own. What is with it Normans requiring alter egos? Name a famous one who was/is a mate of Paul Heaton’s. (This particular Norman was not actually originally Norman.) And a literary question: who wrote “The History Man”?

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)