From Valencia To Mallorca: Jewel races

One of the more peculiar occurrences at a Mallorcan summer fiesta is the insistence by some to indulge in physical exertion of a sort that the meteorological office and the health authorities advise against, especially during the great heat of the day. There is any amount of this activity going on and foremost among it is the fiesta race or races: they come in various guises.

An example of this madness occurred at the start of this month. It was the race to La Victoria in Alcúdia. Anyone with a bit of local knowledge will know that La Victoria is up the side of a mountain. It involves a steep and tortuous climb, and that's just by car. There is a less demanding alternative than running, i.e. the whistle while you walk (itself slightly mad), but neither method is recommended for anyone whose definition of exercise is the stroll to the motor in order to drive to the newsagents.

In Sa Pobla they've come up with a new twist on this summertime torture. It's called "Brutal Running", and the brutality is due to take place this coming Saturday. At a distance of four kilometres, the title seems somewhat exaggerated, but there are always the obstacles, ones for which it is recommended that participants wear clothing of "little value" on account of the potential for said clothing to "deteriorate", which is probably a euphemism for being ripped to shreds. Brutal or not, the only sensible aspect of it is that it doesn't start until six in the evening, when it is likely to have cooled down to 32 degrees: Sa Pobla is typically one of the hottest places on Mallorca.

Such races might be said to have a common fiesta lineage, and it is one that came from across the sea in Valencia and which didn't involve racing on foot but on horseback. Take a look at many a fiesta programme schedule and you will find, assuming the schedule has been translated into English, which it probably won't have been, something known as "jewel races": in Catalan, these are "corregudes de joies".

These jewel races date back to the eighteenth century, and they were typically contests between farmworkers who would challenge each other to see whose horse could go the fastest. The prizes for the victors were jewels, hence the name, though these prizes were subsequently changed - a silk scarf became popular instead, for example. The village of Pinedo can boast having kept this tradition going virtually uninterrupted since the 1700s. Indeed, it is the only village to be able to make this boast. Nowadays, the races, over a distance of 800 metres, take place on the beach and involve some serious sprinting by the horses.

These horse jewel races made their way to Mallorca. There isn't a great deal of historical evidence regarding them, but one town where they were certainly popular until the Civil War was Manacor. The races were both on horseback and on foot, and there is a photo from an unknown year which shows that a large crowd had gathered to watch them. The races used to be staged during the town's celebrations for Sant Jaume, whose day it is this coming Saturday. These fiestas in Manacor were, once upon a time, one of the largest events in Mallorca and had been since the time of King Jaume II (as opposed to the saint), who had established a residence in the town in the early fourteenth century. So popular were they in fact that they have been described as having once been one of the three great fiestas of the Mediterranean: which was all quite a long time ago.

The jewel races that are listed in fiesta programmes are races for which the name has survived rather than the prize. Winners can today expect all sorts of rewards - sweets, typically, for children - and runners, be they young or old, are often egged on by demons or big heads, as is the case in Campos, from where there is a photo from the 1950s which shows the adult male winner of the race homing in on his jewel, which was a hen. They are races which crop up at many a fiesta, and tomorrow in Santa Maria del Camí, just as an example, the town's Santa Margalida fiestas have their jewel races. And at what time? Midday. Yes, midday. Fortunately, the races are only short.