I have an aversion to the cliché, to lexicological laziness, to the presumption of a jocular shared value inherent to the oft-repeated "bon mot". One such has assumed diffusion and usage that is so widespread, it might deserve a place in the Oxford English collection of idioms.
Yet I despair of the pixiated fracturing of "health". Its elfin corruption into "elf", with its postfixation of "and safety", is meant as a whimsy of word play. It succeeds insofar as it has passed into common usage as a means of encapsulating a collective appreciation of excessive or unnecessary resort to legislation or jobsworthing intervention. But when usage becomes common, the joke, such as it ever was, loses any force it may once have been able to lay claim to. It becomes tired, worn-out: enervated expressionism.
"Elf and safety", and its lifeless fellow-travelling quasi-maxims of "the whole world's gone made" and "you couldn't make it up, could you", are designed to create maximum indignation with a minimum of originality. And no, you couldn't make it up, because someone else did. A long, long time ago.
For all this, however, invoking the "elf" expression has a certain appositeness of otherworldliness when applied to demons, beasties and other semi-beings that go bump and bang in the night. It is one limited to an association of the mythological and mysterious. Or should be. Inevitably, though, it is limply spirited into the real world as the flat little gag that contrasts Anglo-Saxon and Brusselian obsession with corporeal protection with a Mallorcan disregard for life, limb and being lit up.
Two years ago, almost to the day, 150 assorted mayors, other politicians, businesspeople, artists and union representatives all had an away day or two or three to Brussels paid for by the local government. Their mission: to stop any interference with the tradition of the fire-run and with the birthright of every Mallorcan child to be set fire to during such a run.
Europe duly ignored them and passed its directive on pyrotechnics. I say ignored, but this directive, all-embracing in covering issues such as the transportation of fireworks as well as events that featured pyrotechnics, was quite clear in recognising that local traditions which might require someone suffering third-degree burns should be allowed to continue.
The main implication for the fire fiestas, as covered by the directive, was the participation of minors. It was never the intention that the fire-runs should be outlawed, and yet this was how it was portrayed, a Palma councillor threatening legal action at the whole world (well, Brussels) going mad. The elfin propaganda-ists failed to even bother reading the directive (understandable enough, admittedly; have you ever tried reading one?), but they should have known that, regardless of the directive being adopted by the Spanish Government (which it was), no one would take a blind bit of notice (which they didn't).
If you had, for example, attended the Sant Antoni fire-runs, you would have seen minors being showered by firefalls. Remarkable it may be that A&E and burns units are not packed out on the nights of fire fiestas, but they aren't. Accidents, despite all the fire-related events in Mallorca, are uncommon. There was the poor chap, one of the island's leading fireworks display organisers, who blew himself up during the Petra fiestas last summer, but if you must do such organising for a living, you have to expect the possibility of not living.
The vague threat that children's involvement in the fire-runs might actually be stopped has now been addressed by the regional government. It has agreed to recognise the "correfocs" as something of religious, cultural and traditional character (which is pretty much what the directive allowed for). It comes with certain conditions attached, but the tradition has been secured along with the youthful exuberance that sees kids jumping around with maniacal and pagan abandon under the demons' trident wands of fire.
There will be those who consider this a triumph of risk-taking over the risk-aversion of the compliance-choked legislation of Europe that is typically and slavishly adhered to in the UK. There will be those who will continue, on witnessing the fire-runs, to resort to the elf expression in suggesting that the elf movement will put a stop to the demons. But they will neglect the fact that the matter has been dealt with and that Europe did not and does not obsess about the fire-runs. There will continue to be those who say that the elf movement would never allow such things in the UK, and they'd be right up to a point. The difference, though, is that, unlike the UK, Mallorca has never forgotten that there are such things as traditions. It is collective forgetfulness which allows mischievously compulsive, law-amending elves to flourish as the sprites of statute-making, but not in Mallorca, where the elves will not stop the demons.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Showing posts with label Fire-runs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fire-runs. Show all posts
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Monday, October 26, 2009
Killing Them Softly
Further to yesterday. There is some disquiet that there was not a cohesive message coming from the various political parties in Muro against the Costas demolition plan. Only the Unió Mallorquina got involved, something for which it was criticised as it appeared to make Ses Casetes the party's own issue. Maybe that's why others stayed away. Something else that came out was that, while Ses Casetes is threatened by the definition as to what is public domain or land, a hotel next to the area is excluded. One presumes that this means the Hotel Platja Daurada, a hotel operated by the EIX group, which so happens to have its offices next to the hotel.
Even if this not the right hotel - and there is no other hotel that joins onto Ses Casetes - it is hard not to get the impression that maybe Ses Casetes is something of a soft target. For the very reasons that it is not a hotel and is not an urbanisation of expensive real estate or of the fabulously wealthy, perhaps it is a convenient fall-guy in the Costas wish to do some cleaning up of public land along the shorelines of Mallorca. Killing the small houses softly.
Yet for all this, if one takes a stroll around Ses Casetes, and the photo from yesterday does give an impression of the place - unmade tracks as roads for instance - then one does wonder as to the legitimacy of the development. It does seem hugely anachronistic, which is of course part of the charm. That it has not been developed in terms, say, of roads, does not mean that it does not have legitimacy, but there is also something that is not quite right there. The original or oldest small houses around the parking area and just off are one thing, but some tracks go into the forest, and next to some tracks are houses that are not like the small houses. They are in fact new; certainly by comparison.
The land itself was ceded to the town many years ago. A question may well be what that land actually was. Some of the buildings would certainly appear to be in possible conflict with what is meant to be the wider nature park of Albufera.
Whatever the real legal situation, the people of Ses Casetes deserve support. One thing that came across vividly during the demonstration was the strength of the community that is Ses Casetes, of the vast age ranges that tell of the history of ownership and of the generations who have summered (and also wintered at holiday times) in the small houses. It is definitely a place worth preserving.
Some hours after the Muro demo, there was the other one - in Sa Pobla. This was a gathering of "demons" in a defiant act of fire-running against the European directive that would limit the participation of children and general interactivity during fire-runs at Mallorcan fiestas. 3,000 people are estimated to have attended. Further to what I said on 23 October ("Feel The Fire") when I wondered about the safety of fire-runs and of bonfires, I was told by Kevin at JKs about how the Santander bank in Puerto Pollensa nearly once copped for it, while John MacLean has sent an email specifically about fires in Sa Pobla during Sant Antoni. I quote: "We were absolutely gobsmacked to see a roaring fire, surrounded by the usual crowd of partygoers, slap bang on the forecourt of the Repsol filling station". (Yep, that's right, filling station as in petrol station.) "It could not have been more than ten feet from the pumps. At that point, I realised that the Mallorcans and the 'poblers' (as the folk of Sa Pobla are called) are not only a different breed but totally off their heads. Needless to say, we didn't hang about!"
And they're complaining about a bit of European health and safety that might stop kids setting fire to themselves during fire-runs. Tradition is one thing, but madness is another.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Simple Minds, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRpEeiZ8vqk. Today's title - variant on what?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Even if this not the right hotel - and there is no other hotel that joins onto Ses Casetes - it is hard not to get the impression that maybe Ses Casetes is something of a soft target. For the very reasons that it is not a hotel and is not an urbanisation of expensive real estate or of the fabulously wealthy, perhaps it is a convenient fall-guy in the Costas wish to do some cleaning up of public land along the shorelines of Mallorca. Killing the small houses softly.
Yet for all this, if one takes a stroll around Ses Casetes, and the photo from yesterday does give an impression of the place - unmade tracks as roads for instance - then one does wonder as to the legitimacy of the development. It does seem hugely anachronistic, which is of course part of the charm. That it has not been developed in terms, say, of roads, does not mean that it does not have legitimacy, but there is also something that is not quite right there. The original or oldest small houses around the parking area and just off are one thing, but some tracks go into the forest, and next to some tracks are houses that are not like the small houses. They are in fact new; certainly by comparison.
The land itself was ceded to the town many years ago. A question may well be what that land actually was. Some of the buildings would certainly appear to be in possible conflict with what is meant to be the wider nature park of Albufera.
Whatever the real legal situation, the people of Ses Casetes deserve support. One thing that came across vividly during the demonstration was the strength of the community that is Ses Casetes, of the vast age ranges that tell of the history of ownership and of the generations who have summered (and also wintered at holiday times) in the small houses. It is definitely a place worth preserving.
Some hours after the Muro demo, there was the other one - in Sa Pobla. This was a gathering of "demons" in a defiant act of fire-running against the European directive that would limit the participation of children and general interactivity during fire-runs at Mallorcan fiestas. 3,000 people are estimated to have attended. Further to what I said on 23 October ("Feel The Fire") when I wondered about the safety of fire-runs and of bonfires, I was told by Kevin at JKs about how the Santander bank in Puerto Pollensa nearly once copped for it, while John MacLean has sent an email specifically about fires in Sa Pobla during Sant Antoni. I quote: "We were absolutely gobsmacked to see a roaring fire, surrounded by the usual crowd of partygoers, slap bang on the forecourt of the Repsol filling station". (Yep, that's right, filling station as in petrol station.) "It could not have been more than ten feet from the pumps. At that point, I realised that the Mallorcans and the 'poblers' (as the folk of Sa Pobla are called) are not only a different breed but totally off their heads. Needless to say, we didn't hang about!"
And they're complaining about a bit of European health and safety that might stop kids setting fire to themselves during fire-runs. Tradition is one thing, but madness is another.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Simple Minds, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRpEeiZ8vqk. Today's title - variant on what?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, October 23, 2009
Feel The Fire
Another day, another demo. Actually, the same day as the demo against the demolition of Ses Casetes, just a different town - Sa Pobla - and a different matter of concern. And this is? Fire. Fire and fire-runs. One of the most traditional aspects of the Mallorcan fiesta is threatened (allegedly) by the European Union and its directive 2007/23/EC which comes into force at the start of next year - just in time, of course, before one of the biggest "fire" occasions in Mallorca, the Sant Antoni devils night of 16 January. And which town has the biggest of these occasions? Sa Pobla of course.
I have tried to read this directive. Have you ever tried reading European directives? As a cure to insomnia, they probably have some merit. Anyway, this one is all about fireworks and other pyrotechnics. At its heart is the free movement of pyrotechnic articles which, being European legislation, is anything but. Possibly; I did rather get lost at that point. But also being European legislation, it would not be doing its job if it didn't draw up volumes of law in respect of health and safety. It is this aspect, fundamentally, that could change the fire-run tradition. One says could. I actually doubt it.
Much as traditions should be preserved, I have long wondered about the whole fire-run and bonfire-lighting malarkey in Mallorca. In towns such as Puerto Pollensa, bonfires are lit in close proximity to houses and bars. There may not have been major conflagrations, but it's not hard to imagine that the fires might get out of hand. Then there are the fire-runs themselves. Advice is always issued as to the wearing of the right clothing and the like, but once again you do wonder.
In the directive, there is this thing about the observance of "festivities" in member states. It has not been drafted without acknowledgement of these traditions or indeed permissions issued by member-state governments. The fire-run itself does not appear to be endangered, but there are rules being set out about the handling of fire and fireworks and the ages of those doing so.
In May, the fire-run tradition was taken to the streets of Manchester as part of the attempt to drum up Mancunian business for the beaches of Mallorca. I'm sure that Manchester was impressed. Or maybe it wasn't. But it should have been. The fire-run is a spectacle. It should be left to continue. Also earlier this year, a delegation of mayors and others trotted off to Brussels to lobby against the directive and to also ask for more European money. There was some talk of legal action if the directive did actually impinge on the fire-run to the extent of it being outlawed. This, the outlawing, I cannot see happening. Apart from anything else, who - locally - would enforce the ruling? And, as I point out, there is this mention in the directive of observing local traditions.
The Sa Pobla demo may be a bit of an over-reaction. There seems to be an admission that the definitive ruling on the fire-run is missing, which maybe how Brussels wants it. Thataway, it can let the local traditions carry on while at the same time insisting that there is adequate safety, to which the locals would respond that there already is. But where kids of certain ages are concerned, the fact that the directive might lead them to handling nothing more incendiary than a sparkler may actually be sensible.
Don't let's get too worked up, though. The fire-runs will continue. And so will the devils.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Spin Doctors, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCjtRJkS85w. Today's title - which "Fireman" (firemen) included this in which song?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
I have tried to read this directive. Have you ever tried reading European directives? As a cure to insomnia, they probably have some merit. Anyway, this one is all about fireworks and other pyrotechnics. At its heart is the free movement of pyrotechnic articles which, being European legislation, is anything but. Possibly; I did rather get lost at that point. But also being European legislation, it would not be doing its job if it didn't draw up volumes of law in respect of health and safety. It is this aspect, fundamentally, that could change the fire-run tradition. One says could. I actually doubt it.
Much as traditions should be preserved, I have long wondered about the whole fire-run and bonfire-lighting malarkey in Mallorca. In towns such as Puerto Pollensa, bonfires are lit in close proximity to houses and bars. There may not have been major conflagrations, but it's not hard to imagine that the fires might get out of hand. Then there are the fire-runs themselves. Advice is always issued as to the wearing of the right clothing and the like, but once again you do wonder.
In the directive, there is this thing about the observance of "festivities" in member states. It has not been drafted without acknowledgement of these traditions or indeed permissions issued by member-state governments. The fire-run itself does not appear to be endangered, but there are rules being set out about the handling of fire and fireworks and the ages of those doing so.
In May, the fire-run tradition was taken to the streets of Manchester as part of the attempt to drum up Mancunian business for the beaches of Mallorca. I'm sure that Manchester was impressed. Or maybe it wasn't. But it should have been. The fire-run is a spectacle. It should be left to continue. Also earlier this year, a delegation of mayors and others trotted off to Brussels to lobby against the directive and to also ask for more European money. There was some talk of legal action if the directive did actually impinge on the fire-run to the extent of it being outlawed. This, the outlawing, I cannot see happening. Apart from anything else, who - locally - would enforce the ruling? And, as I point out, there is this mention in the directive of observing local traditions.
The Sa Pobla demo may be a bit of an over-reaction. There seems to be an admission that the definitive ruling on the fire-run is missing, which maybe how Brussels wants it. Thataway, it can let the local traditions carry on while at the same time insisting that there is adequate safety, to which the locals would respond that there already is. But where kids of certain ages are concerned, the fact that the directive might lead them to handling nothing more incendiary than a sparkler may actually be sensible.
Don't let's get too worked up, though. The fire-runs will continue. And so will the devils.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Spin Doctors, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCjtRJkS85w. Today's title - which "Fireman" (firemen) included this in which song?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, January 14, 2008
Race With The Devil
This is a week for fiestas. I know, I know, when is it not a week for fiestas, but this is a big one. To have two such major occasions in one week in January says much about Mallorca; much about the importance of tradition and much about the way in which the calendar is defined by these occasions. The year, especially in winter when there is less work to be done, is mapped out by reference to these fiestas. In October and November, the various fairs across the island and Hallowe’en at the end of October; in November, All Saints; in December, the holidays of Constitution Day and Immaculate Conception and then Christmas and New Year’s Eve; in January, Three Kings and Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastia. Mallorcan time and the Mallorcan calendar revolve around fiestas. Once the January events are finished, attention turns to the upcoming season. Winter, just as much as summer, is fiesta time.
Sant Antoni occurs on the night of 16 January and into 17 January, At its spectacular heart, are the fires and the fire-runs (correfocs). Streets are given over to fires. Mounds of earth on which fires are lit. The night of the 16th is when the devils run in the streets. Most towns have a Sant Antoni event – Alcudia, Pollensa, Muro. All of them celebrate the occasion. But there is no more significant event than the “Nit Bruixa” (witch night) of Sa Pobla, one that attracts folk from across the island.
Sant Sebastia (20 January) is essentially a Palma event, as it celebrates the patron saint of Palma, but it is also celebrated elsewhere. This year, the grand fireworks display in Palma has been called off in favour of a correfoc as this is, according to Palma council worthies, more in keeping with Mallorcan traditions. Perhaps so.
Both Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastia are very much Mallorcan events. Foreign visitors there may be, certainly for Sant Sebastia, but they are limited, and this year I know some are disappointed at the lack of a firework display, a disappointment that will hardly be offset by the dubious attraction of the current line-up of the Electric Light Orchestra.
But why are they not more international? When we hear so much about Mallorcan culture, why is not more, much more, made in particular of the demonology? Here is something that captures the imagination, far more so than the vagueness of other so-called Mallorcan culture. Demonology and devils, things of the night; these are things of the human spirit, understood by all other cultures. And they find a special voice in the fire-runs and the witch night right here in Mallorca.
What if Sa Pobla were to be transformed into a centre of the devil, with a physical centre, a museum or better still some grand attraction with interactive fire-runs and resident devils? A vast digital witch night, a nightmare of temptation. What if this were to be marketed as the ultimate horror? What if there were special packages for Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastian and then other packages outside of the one week in January that promised terror and thrills. This is the stuff of the digital age. Play Station played large. And not just digital.
Or would there be objections? Would the Mallorcans want even more of their traditions internationalised? They can be terribly parochial. Would the promotion of the Devil be sacrilegious for a society that runs with the Devil but only because of the temptations that the Devil placed in front of the God-fearing? The fire-run of the Beata fiesta in Santa Margalida for instance celebrates just this – the temptation of Santa Catalina by Satan.
I don’t know the answer, but if they want cultural tourism then let them promote real culture, real culture that everyone can understand and that everyone might want to enjoy, and for which everyone might be tempted to come to Mallorca in winter. A bit of imagination anyone?
QUIZ
Yesterday – Sylvia, and she was Swedish. Today’s title – a bit to choose from I fancy, but this is a title by one of the original rockers.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sant Antoni occurs on the night of 16 January and into 17 January, At its spectacular heart, are the fires and the fire-runs (correfocs). Streets are given over to fires. Mounds of earth on which fires are lit. The night of the 16th is when the devils run in the streets. Most towns have a Sant Antoni event – Alcudia, Pollensa, Muro. All of them celebrate the occasion. But there is no more significant event than the “Nit Bruixa” (witch night) of Sa Pobla, one that attracts folk from across the island.
Sant Sebastia (20 January) is essentially a Palma event, as it celebrates the patron saint of Palma, but it is also celebrated elsewhere. This year, the grand fireworks display in Palma has been called off in favour of a correfoc as this is, according to Palma council worthies, more in keeping with Mallorcan traditions. Perhaps so.
Both Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastia are very much Mallorcan events. Foreign visitors there may be, certainly for Sant Sebastia, but they are limited, and this year I know some are disappointed at the lack of a firework display, a disappointment that will hardly be offset by the dubious attraction of the current line-up of the Electric Light Orchestra.
But why are they not more international? When we hear so much about Mallorcan culture, why is not more, much more, made in particular of the demonology? Here is something that captures the imagination, far more so than the vagueness of other so-called Mallorcan culture. Demonology and devils, things of the night; these are things of the human spirit, understood by all other cultures. And they find a special voice in the fire-runs and the witch night right here in Mallorca.
What if Sa Pobla were to be transformed into a centre of the devil, with a physical centre, a museum or better still some grand attraction with interactive fire-runs and resident devils? A vast digital witch night, a nightmare of temptation. What if this were to be marketed as the ultimate horror? What if there were special packages for Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastian and then other packages outside of the one week in January that promised terror and thrills. This is the stuff of the digital age. Play Station played large. And not just digital.
Or would there be objections? Would the Mallorcans want even more of their traditions internationalised? They can be terribly parochial. Would the promotion of the Devil be sacrilegious for a society that runs with the Devil but only because of the temptations that the Devil placed in front of the God-fearing? The fire-run of the Beata fiesta in Santa Margalida for instance celebrates just this – the temptation of Santa Catalina by Satan.
I don’t know the answer, but if they want cultural tourism then let them promote real culture, real culture that everyone can understand and that everyone might want to enjoy, and for which everyone might be tempted to come to Mallorca in winter. A bit of imagination anyone?
QUIZ
Yesterday – Sylvia, and she was Swedish. Today’s title – a bit to choose from I fancy, but this is a title by one of the original rockers.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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