Duck's Off: Defining Traditions

There is a legal oddity in Spain which prescribes how old a tradition must be in order that it can qualify for being a tradition - if this doesn't sound somewhat Irish (or Spanish). It is not a legal mechanism which defines all traditions but it is one that applies to traditions which involve animals. In a nutshell, older than one hundred years equals tradition, younger than one hundred equals non-tradition. To say that the law is somewhat arbitrary is a bit of an understatement. Nevertheless, it is a law which forms part of wider legislation - that of animal protection. It is one which rarely needs to be invoked, but in Mallorca it has been, and Can Picafort has been the main battleground for questioning the law. It's all to do with ducks.

Some time back in the 1930s, or so the story goes, underpaid local workers (of which there couldn't have been that many) were offered a little treat. A landowner made available a number of ducks, for the eating thereof. There was a catch. The workers would have to swim for their supper. The ducks were released in the sea, in dived the downtrodden peasantry and, amidst what was doubtless a great deal of quacking and general flapping around, the ducks were captured and were subsequently served up on a plate - à l'orange or sans orange. Such was the success of the watery duck chase that a tradition was born. Except of course, it wasn't. For the purposes of the law when it was drawn up, it was not more than one hundred years old. To borrow from Basil Fawlty, the law declared: "duck's off". 

It was only relatively recently that the 100-year rule came into effect and put an end to the use of live ducks for the annual dive, swim and catch at the Can Picafort summer fiestas. Santa Margalida town hall was none too impressed with the law. Only when it was threatened with legal action did it reluctantly agree to substituting the real ducks with unreal ducks. The manufacturers of rubber and plastic ducks were in ducky heaven.

While the town hall bowed to the force of law, not every citizen of the town did likewise. Into Can Picafort folklore was etched the image of the Power Rangers' mask. Real ducks were released by miscreant traditionalists wearing non-traditional masks who thumbed their noses at the legality of the 100-year rule.

The masks were on show in 2007, the first year in which real ducks were banned. They were to be seen again, along with more ducks, over the next three years. The flouting of the law required the town hall, still reluctantly complying with it, to order the local police to stop the miscreants and the Guardia to send a submarine diving unit. No one was ever actually caught. In 2010, the defenders of the duck tradition released a video. It featured a "pope" and some ducks. The pope was shown beckoning the ducks towards him. It was to be the last year that a real duck put in an appearance at the 15 August event.

Despite some Can Picafort old-timers and some not so old-timers having said that the swim is not how it used to be and that they refuse to take part and go in pursuit of a rubber duck, the event's popularity seems to have grown. One suspects that it is partly because some visitors live in hope that the Power Rangers will return. Or perhaps it is because there are only rubber ducks (and a load of melons as well). The papal defenders of the real ducks are not the only ones whose opinions and preferences count. There are the defenders of the rubber duck as well, those who disagree with the use of live animals.

The animal-protection lobby has said that ducks would have felt stress and anxiety when they were being chased by the swimmers. They may well have done, but when one is talking animal protection and rights, the stress of the ducks is surely nothing compared to that which a bull suffers. But that's a different argument and a different tradition, one that is definitely more than one hundred years old. It is, nevertheless, one with a political overtone, the ruling Partido Popular being supportive of the bullfight. It had been hoped in Can Picafort that the party's lack of animal-rights correctness might have seen a change of heart where the ducks were concerned. Regional governments can amend the 100-year rule, if it so suits. The Balearic Government hasn't been tempted to. The ducks, the real ones, are safely swimming and quacking in Albufera and other ducky habitats in the local area. They are no longer taken on board small boats and released into the sea in front of the Mar y Paz hotel on 15 August. It is a day for rubber ducks only. But. What would happen if a duck were to inadvertently fly over Can Picafort and land in the sea at around 12 midday? Would the duck be charged with breaking the law?