The Rival Fairs Of Autumn: Llucmajor

The legend of the Black Madonna at Lluc monastery involves the shepherd boy Lluc (aka Luke). It's a legend and story well enough known that a conclusion - a wrong one - might be drawn. Lluc, as in the place, has nothing to do with the name of the shepherd boy. "Lluc" is derived from the Latin "lucu" to mean sacred forest. The name Lluc (or Luke) supposedly comes from the Latin name Lucas or the Greek Loukas to mean a man from the area of Lucania, with an alternative explanation being that it was from the Greek for giving light.

As with Lluc, the place, so also with Llucmajor, the difference being the "major" part. It means the largest sacred forest or simply the largest forest. As with many place names, there are all sorts of competing explanations, one other being that it comes from the Arabic for "over or near a place of refuge": in Catalan "lloc" means place and is the translation of the Arabic "ludjdj" (and no, I don't know how you pronounce this either).

Suffice to say, though, that in naming terms and so as with Lluc, Llucmajor has nothing to do with Luke. But just as Lluc has its legend of the shepherd boy, so Llucmajor has a person dear to its cultural and traditional heart: in this instance, Saint Luke. In case one needed any more confusion regarding place names, however, it might be noted that the legends of various Black Madonnas, of which the one at Lluc monastery is an example, have it that they were carved by Saint Luke: this is certainly the case with the Black Virgin of Montserrat.  

Anyway, that's probably enough for origins of names. Today is the feast day of Sant Lluc, or Saint Luke if you prefer. One of the four Evangelists along with Matthew, Mark and John, Luke plays a vital role in Llucmajor's history as it was his feast day that came to determine when the town's fairs would be held. The first was to be on the day of Sant Miquel and the final one on the day of Sant Lluc, an arrangement which, much to the disgust of fifteenth-century fair organisers in Inca, meant that that town's autumn fairs had to be moved.

They make a great deal in Llucmajor about the longevity, the history and so the tradition of its fairs. Today brings to a close its 469th edition of the twenty-one days of fairs from Miquel to Lluc plus tomorrow's "Firó". There's a story that once upon a time they extended these by a further day and had a "Refiró" though this might just be a tall tale and a reflection of the fact that the fairs went on so long, they didn't actually know when to draw them to a close.

It is fair (sic) to say that in Llucmajor tradition, they have always spoken of fairs in the plural. There has not been "the fair" but there have been "the fairs", which is the case also in Inca. The rivalry between the two towns, dating back to the 1540s, is such that the Llucmajor versions are spoken of in the same breath as Inca's (if only by people from Llucmajor). Together they were the grandest and the largest of Mallorca's fairs, though it is reasonable (as a neutral) to suggest that Inca has now assumed number one spot in this regard.

But the final Llucmajor fair, falling as it does while summer still lingers, has a feeling of summer that the final Inca fair - Dijous Bo - does not. Hence, as it has been written of the fairs, "we leave the freshness of Arenal and return to the town to have almonds and carobs". And to also dress up. There is a whole story to be told of the association between a town's tailoring trade and its fiestas or fairs and of how the key events of the year would require a new suit, a new outfit, a new dress. It is a tradition that is long out of fashion, so to speak, but the final fair, the Saint Luke fair, was the day when the new clothes would be shown off and paraded next to the animal pens.

In Llucmajor its final fair keeps with tradition. It's not a themed fair but one very much of rural life. Along with the farm animals, there are also donkeys and the Mallorcan bulldog - the "ca de bou". And for its celebration, you have to thank old Saint Luke and the compromise reached with Inca all those years ago.

Next Sunday, never forgetting the fact that its fairs were shunted, Inca will go bigger than ever with its first fair. And, just to make a point, Inca has more than 21 days of fairs.