The Night Of The Lanterns

Saint Bartholomew (Sant Bartomeu) met a grisly end. One of the Apostles, he was supposedly skinned alive before being crucified. It is his feast day tomorrow and is thus a fairly significant day in the religious calendar. Bartomeu doesn't, as such, have anything to do with lanterns, but in Alcudia he does. Tomorrow is the festival of the lanterns in the old town.

You might be surprised to learn that the origins of the lanterns festival lie with the end of summer. 24 August is not normally considered to be summer's end. But for the farming people of Alcudia in days gone by, it was treated as such because the last melons of the season were being harvested. To mark the end of the melon production line, a local custom was invented. Lanterns were made from melons, and the children of the town took to the streets at night, flashing their lanterns and singing traditional Mallorcan children's songs.

It is uncertain when this custom first took off, but it is certain that by the early 1960s the tradition had fallen into abeyance. As with other aspects of rural Mallorcan life, tourism and coastal construction had changed the landscape, both physically and socially. What is also certain is the fact that in 1978 the custom was revived, an impulse behind its revival having been a resurgence in traditions that had gone into decline during the Franco years. The prime movers behind the return of the lanterns were the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB), the organisation which promotes all things Catalan, and a cultural association in Alcudia that was formed from the local branch of the OCB. This association was Sarau Alcudienc.

Best known for its performances of ball de bot folk dance, Sarau Alcudienc is and always has been much more than a folk troupe. It is perhaps Alcudia's most important keeper of Catalan traditions, and its founding coincided with the revival of the lanterns festival (indeed, it was the festival which brought about its founding). As such, therefore, the festival has a deeper significance than merely being an occasion for children to carry lit-up melons on the streets of the old town. It represents the rediscovery of the past. It isn't perhaps well enough appreciated just how significant the lanterns festival is.

There again, this socio-politico element is probably not uppermost in the minds of the kids or their parents on the evening of 24 August, when the Plaça de ses Verdures (vegetables square) - just by the town hall - is packed with the families who make the square the final place in their journey along the streets. It has become a joyous and much anticipated event, not greatly publicised to the tourist masses, but one with which a tourist observer will be greatly charmed.

As for the link with Sant Bartomeu, there isn't a direct one, as I have noted. It was chosen in 1978 to be the day (or rather night) when the lanterns would once more be swung. It is a tradition unique to Alcudia. Or rather it was. Sarau Alcudienc has spread the word, and there are other towns which have now taken Alcudia's lead. A lovely event, but as for end of summer? Thankfully, not quite.

* Photo from Sarau Alcudienc