There is, as far as I can make out, no particularly good reason why a village in the Tramuntana has insisted on turning itself into the centre of sheer unbridled confectionery fantasy. All they need are some toys as well, and this would be kiddie heaven. As it is, it gets close enough to the divine by converting itself on one day a year - today - into a giant sweet shop and a magician's bakery. Sugar, cream, chocolate, custards, this is a wonderland conjured up by some candy wizard. This is Esporles on the first Sunday in October: Mallorca's tribute to all our yesterdays of the pick 'n' mix and the corner shop with its penny-costing flying saucers and pink shrimps.
They've been holding the sweets fair since 2005. Maybe it was all the doing of he who is now president of the Council of Mallorca, Miquel Ensenyat. 2005 was when he became mayor. Invent a fair and make it one with a theme that nowhere else has. What could be simpler than sweets?
It has of course branched out since the early days. There is now all manner of gluttony to indulge in - savouries, sobrassada sausage, pa amb olis - on a day when elsewhere in Mallorca, Sant Joan, they're going mad over the butifarró (aka botifarron), the sort of black pudding except when it isn't black. At least in Sant Joan one can detect a history, that of the enthusiasts of the local motoring club who came up with the idea for a boti-barbecue in 1966. In Esporles, the reason for the sweet treats can probably be put down to no more than they could, and so have. Otherwise, it would be a fair similar to many others: Esporles is about farming and livestock, a textile industry that pretty much died out decades ago, La Granja and so some tourism of a heritage and ethnological nature.
The fair, despite having only been going since 2005, has of course acquired the adjective "traditional". In itself it isn't traditional, but much of what is on offer is, and last year they made a concerted effort to sell more sweets by putting on a special promotion for the rosaries of sweeties that are given out for All Saints (which is less than a month away). As this tradition has apparently been experiencing some decline, then what better than reminding grandparents, godparents and others of times past and of the need to buy some choccy rosaries in the present?
The prevailing smell of the day of sweets that hangs over Esporles is, though, that of the "bunyol", the doughnut (or fritter with a hole), being fried, and it comes very much into its own at Allhallowtide as well. It can also lay claim to being part of a long local tradition. But the sweet, or pastry, or cake that beats them all in the traditional stakes is our old friend the ensaimada, which will find pride of place next to the dolly mixtures and what have you.
The history of the ensaimada is shrouded in some mystery. Legend has it that its shape comes from an Arabic turban, and that it was the Muslim invaders of the early tenth century who were responsible for its introduction. The word itself does derive from the Arabic "saim", but as this means lard it is most unlikely - for religious dietary reasons - that the Muslims were making their pastry with it. The saim element was to come later but, so it is believed, grafted onto a different pastry, a snail-shaped thing called the bulema that the Arabs produced but which used butter from sheep's milk instead of lard. There is a further claim that, following the conquest, King Jaume I was presented with an ensaimada by a Jewish baker, but again this wouldn't have had lard. Quite when this was first used as an ingredient isn't known, but the bulema explanation - from both Arabic and Jewish cuisine of the times - would appear to hold the key to the later development using lard and so what is now one of Mallorca's most obvious symbols.
So the Esporles fair, only in its eleventh edition, may not have its own tradition, but it will be exhibiting it. The giant sweet shop will be open at ten o'clock, so plenty of time to chomp your way through all the goodies before getting over to Sant Joan and the one o'clock kick-off of the boti-barby. Whoever said Mediterranean diet?
Showing posts with label Sant Joan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sant Joan. Show all posts
Sunday, October 04, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
The Night Of Fire: Sant Joan
There are times when Mallorca can seem as though it is awash and aflame with fiestas. We are right in the midst of one those times: a midsummer clash of two of the saintly titans - John (the Baptist) and Peter, aka in Catalan, Joan and Pere. And for the former, awash and aflame is how things are. Tonight is Sant Joan Eve, also known, depending on location, as the Night of Fire*, Night of the Witches or the Night of Magic. Sant Joan, John the Baptist, can appear to be a mere bystander to the Eve which bears his name, a coincidence of his birth (24 June) having made him a participant in the midsummer rituals of the solstice, but he is part of the Eve's equation - the awash part, the water part. John the Baptist, lest it be forgotten, not only foretold the coming of the Messiah, he also, on the Messiah's arrival, was to baptise him. At midnight tonight, if you take a swim in the sea or merely take a paddle, your ailments will be cured, your aches and pains will disappear, but above all, your sins - if you have any - will be cleansed. Taking the waters on Sant Joan Eve is symbolic of the baptism of Christ.
Generally speaking, it is frowned upon, nay prohibited, to go around having fires on beaches: a certain latitude can apply on Sant Joan Eve, however. It is the aflame part of the equation that has little to do with Sant Joan himself, which is why it is probably fair to say that he has, despite the cleansing, been made somewhat subordinate to the fire traditions. They are of pagan times, but they also have a cleansing and purifying purpose - burning something in the fires of Sant Joan will rid you of bad luck as your sins will have been cleansed by the flame. Writing a wish on a piece of paper which is thrown into the flame can also bring you luck; a variant is that pieces of paper - small flamelets of wishes - or nightlight candles are placed on the hopefully calm water before they are extinguished.
It is possible that you can encounter such ceremonies pretty much anywhere, but if it's properly sanctioned and big fire entertainment you are after, then there is nowhere which will do it better tonight than Palma. Its "Nit de Foc", Night of Fire at the Parc de la Mar by the Cathedral will feature what we are assured will be a record turnout of demons for the remarkable, the terrifying, the spectacular "correfoc": the fire-run.
Celebrations for Sant Joan are all around. They range from the full-blown fiestas of Deià, Mancor de la Vall, Muro and Son Servera to the more specific, such as the single fire night in Palma. They are, therefore, not solely confined to parts of the island where the sea is on hand to make its contribution to the festivities. Well inland, for example, there is the village of Sant Joan where, appropriately enough, they honour John the Baptist. And they do so in their own particular way. It is here that Sant Joan becomes the Night of Magic, and it is a night principally aimed at the children of the village, some of whom, dressed up as wizards and what have you, may well camp out at the Consolation Sanctuary, only to be woken before dawn in order to witness the "dancing sun": this is hardcore tradition for the solstice.
Tomorrow, Sant Joan will be visited by Sant Joan Pelós, the character who represents John the Baptist and who performs a peculiar dance which, in the case of this particular village, is one for which he is accompanied by a giant crow - the Corb de Sant Nofre. In Felanitx tomorrow evening, the best-known of the Hairy John Sant Joan Pelóses takes to the streets. Sant Llorenç has one as well, though there he has had a haircut.
While the Sant Joan fiestas are of most immediate interest, those for Sant Pere, Saint Peter, are already underway in parts of the island: his day is not until next Monday, 29 June. Sant Pere is of particular significance to Mallorca because of his patronage of fishermen. Accordingly, therefore, he has fiestas in Puerto Alcúdia, Puerto Pollensa and Port Sóller, not forgetting the small resort in Arta of Colonia Sant Pere, originally a farming colony that was established in the late nineteenth century when there was a need to cultivate more land. Oddly enough, however, the patron saint of fishermen is also celebrated inland, such as in the tiny agricultural village of Búger and in Esporles in the Tramuntana mountains. They are staging a Zombie Night in Esporles tonight, one which, it can be safely assumed, has nothing to do with the traditions of Sant Pere or indeed Sant Joan.
Fiestas typically reach their climax with their more contemporary ritual of fire - the fireworks display. And so there will be rockets galore in Mancor and Muro tomorrow at midnight. In Deià, they will have their own night of fire with fire-running demons on the loose.
* This is the summer Night of Fire and Night of the Witches: there is another one in January, the night of 16 January - Sant Antoni Eve.
Generally speaking, it is frowned upon, nay prohibited, to go around having fires on beaches: a certain latitude can apply on Sant Joan Eve, however. It is the aflame part of the equation that has little to do with Sant Joan himself, which is why it is probably fair to say that he has, despite the cleansing, been made somewhat subordinate to the fire traditions. They are of pagan times, but they also have a cleansing and purifying purpose - burning something in the fires of Sant Joan will rid you of bad luck as your sins will have been cleansed by the flame. Writing a wish on a piece of paper which is thrown into the flame can also bring you luck; a variant is that pieces of paper - small flamelets of wishes - or nightlight candles are placed on the hopefully calm water before they are extinguished.
It is possible that you can encounter such ceremonies pretty much anywhere, but if it's properly sanctioned and big fire entertainment you are after, then there is nowhere which will do it better tonight than Palma. Its "Nit de Foc", Night of Fire at the Parc de la Mar by the Cathedral will feature what we are assured will be a record turnout of demons for the remarkable, the terrifying, the spectacular "correfoc": the fire-run.
Celebrations for Sant Joan are all around. They range from the full-blown fiestas of Deià, Mancor de la Vall, Muro and Son Servera to the more specific, such as the single fire night in Palma. They are, therefore, not solely confined to parts of the island where the sea is on hand to make its contribution to the festivities. Well inland, for example, there is the village of Sant Joan where, appropriately enough, they honour John the Baptist. And they do so in their own particular way. It is here that Sant Joan becomes the Night of Magic, and it is a night principally aimed at the children of the village, some of whom, dressed up as wizards and what have you, may well camp out at the Consolation Sanctuary, only to be woken before dawn in order to witness the "dancing sun": this is hardcore tradition for the solstice.
Tomorrow, Sant Joan will be visited by Sant Joan Pelós, the character who represents John the Baptist and who performs a peculiar dance which, in the case of this particular village, is one for which he is accompanied by a giant crow - the Corb de Sant Nofre. In Felanitx tomorrow evening, the best-known of the Hairy John Sant Joan Pelóses takes to the streets. Sant Llorenç has one as well, though there he has had a haircut.
While the Sant Joan fiestas are of most immediate interest, those for Sant Pere, Saint Peter, are already underway in parts of the island: his day is not until next Monday, 29 June. Sant Pere is of particular significance to Mallorca because of his patronage of fishermen. Accordingly, therefore, he has fiestas in Puerto Alcúdia, Puerto Pollensa and Port Sóller, not forgetting the small resort in Arta of Colonia Sant Pere, originally a farming colony that was established in the late nineteenth century when there was a need to cultivate more land. Oddly enough, however, the patron saint of fishermen is also celebrated inland, such as in the tiny agricultural village of Búger and in Esporles in the Tramuntana mountains. They are staging a Zombie Night in Esporles tonight, one which, it can be safely assumed, has nothing to do with the traditions of Sant Pere or indeed Sant Joan.
Fiestas typically reach their climax with their more contemporary ritual of fire - the fireworks display. And so there will be rockets galore in Mancor and Muro tomorrow at midnight. In Deià, they will have their own night of fire with fire-running demons on the loose.
* This is the summer Night of Fire and Night of the Witches: there is another one in January, the night of 16 January - Sant Antoni Eve.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Saint John: A movable feast
There are fiestas for Sant Joan in several Mallorcan towns - Calvia, Deià, Mancor de la Vall, Muro, Portopetro and Son Servera - but there aren't in Sant Joan. Or rather, there are, but only partially in order to celebrate the summer solstice and the birth of Saint John the Baptist. The town's Sant Joan fiestas are in fact at the end of August. Sant Joan Degollat. The day of the beheading.
So, why does the town opt to honour the saint's gory end rather than his birthday? The reason, so it would seem, lies with traditions of the harvest. Until 1919, there was a midsummer Sant Joan fiesta, but because the local farmers were so busy in the fields and didn't have time for enjoying themselves, they moved things to the end of August.
Albeit that 29 August marks a rather unfortunate event, Saint John losing his head, there is at least a sound reason for moving the feast. Other movable feasts have less obvious justification. Those for Santa Catalina Thomàs being a good example. The saint was born in May, died in April, was beatified in August and was canonised in June. Logically therefore, Valldemossa, where she was born, celebrates her in July. Even more logically, Santa Margalida's La Beata in her honour takes place in September. Feasts can indeed be movable, and the reason why Santa Margalida does her in September is the same reason why Sant Joan does Saint John at the end of August. The harvest.
Santa Catalina is, however, a rather unusual saint in that she is a sort of commoner saint. You won't find her in the Bible because she wasn't born until the sixteenth century. Perhaps, therefore, it is easier to move non-Biblical saints' days around. Just find a date that suits everyone and have a fiesta.
Someone who most certainly did feature in the Bible was Jesus. In Alcúdia, he has a feast which was moved for no obvious rhyme nor reason. Sant Crist, an alternative title for Jesus, occurs on 26 July. Once every three years. Yet, the background to this celebration is something which happened on 24 February, 1507. This was the day when an image of Christ apparently sweated blood and water and performed a miracle, ridding Alcúdia of all manner of plague, pestilence, famine and what have you. So, why July and indeed why every three years? It was a decision of the local church, one on cost grounds. Sant Crist was tagged on to the town's Sant Jaume fiestas as a way of saving money, while the decision to hold it once every three years was because Sant Crist became a seriously big deal for the whole of Mallorca. Alcúdia couldn't cope with all those pilgrims descending on the town every year.
But to return to John the Baptist and to better times when he still had his head, Sant Joan does have a midsummer celebration: Sol que Balla, the sun dance. On 24 June, the townsfolk, and especially the town's children, watch the sun rise and have a dance, and the bells of the church are rung. As such therefore, the celebration isn't anything to do with John the Baptist. It's one of those happy coincidences that he happened to be born at the same time as the summer solstice occurred, which has allowed there to be two celebrations in one ever since.
The solstice element of Sant Joan fiestas around Mallorca is no better celebrated than in Calvia. The tradition of wearing white, having a picnic on the beach, lighting candles (or starting a fire), taking a cleansing and purifying dip in the sea at midnight has caught on elsewhere, in places where there is no Sant Joan celebration. Strictly speaking, starting fires on the beach are not allowed at any time, let alone around midnight on 23 June, but it is quite possible that you might encounter one or two. This is, after all, the night of the fires, an ancient ritual for the solstice.
Whatever you do for midsummer's night and for the fiestas of Sant Joan, enjoy yourselves, but don't go losing your head.
Photo: Sol que Balla from Klaus's Mallorca Photo Blog, June 2009, http://mallorcaphotoblog.com/2009/06/
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Digging Up The Past: Civil War
They started digging for bodies on Monday. In an old part of the municipal cemetery in Sant Joan, an area of grey earth with a couple of palms and some shrubbery, partially enclosed by a low cloister with chipped pillars, they began the careful process of exhumation. DNA samples will be taken. They will confirm the discovery of the bodies of Miquel Salom, Joan Gual and Jaume Gual, three middle-aged farmers.
Puntiró in Palma has a golf course. It was designed by Jack Nicklaus. It lies next to the old road to Sineu. If you carry on from Sineu, the next town you come to is Maria de la Salut. In October 1936, the three farmers and three others walked from Maria to Palma. They didn't make it to their destination. They were shot in Puntiró. Victims of the Falange, they were Republicans who had been turned in by neighbours. Their bodies were buried in the cemetery in Sant Joan.
The three others who had been made to walk to Palma that night in October managed to escape. One of them was to later testify that it was a Llorenç "Llebro" who shot the three men. One victim had shouted out, "do not kill me". The bodies were left in a well in Son Fred in Sencelles. They were found and taken to Sant Joan, where the local justice of the peace registered them as "unknown". They were placed in what was a communal grave in Sant Joan, the one which now has an unremarkable collection of plants growing on it. Some weeks later, on 28 December, relatives of the dead men claimed their identification but the bodies were not disinterred in order that confirmation could be made. Seventy-eight years later, following pressure from the association Memòria de Mallorca, the digging began on Monday. It is the first exhumation of its kind in Mallorca.
Six years ago, Judge Baltasar Garzón ordered the exhumation of mass graves. He was searching for evidence of slaughter by Franco's Nationalists. Three of these graves were in Mallorca - one in Calvia and two in Porreres. For his trouble, Garzón ended up being disqualified as a judge. He had exceeded his powers and had broken the principle of the amnesty, the legal forgetfulness that prevents Spain from truly coming to terms with the truth of its past. Work on exhumation started but was then paralysed by court order. It still is paralysed. Despite this legal obstacle, the Sant Joan grave, because of the association's insistence, the wishes of the families and the support of the town hall, is being exhumed.
There are reckoned to be 44 mass graves in Mallorca which contain perhaps as many as 2,000 bodies. 24 of them are in cemeteries, such as those of Calvia, Porreres and Sant Joan. Twelve others are in ditches by the sides of main roads. Four are in wells. And four more are under beaches, one of them being in Sa Coma, near to one of the two landing places used by Captain Bayo for his ultimately doomed expedition to wrest Mallorca from the Nationalists.
Sa Coma is in the municipality of Sant Llorenç. Just a bit north of Sa Coma is the resort of Cala Millor, part of which is in Sant Llorenç as well but with the other part in Son Servera. In Son Servera, at the last elections before the coup of July 1936, a Republican Left candidate had been voted in. It is thought that this was the reason why cruelty which occurred in Son Servera was as it was to later be. It is also said that in municipalities on Mallorca's Llevant coast there had been traditions of leftism and Republicanism, a product of discontent with landowners and the "cacique" political bosses that had been evident for many years.
The story of what happened in Son Servera in the lead-up to the coup and between it and the Bayo landings and the consequences of those landings has been detailed by the Memòria de Mallorca association. In one particularly chilling passage, it speaks of the events of the night of 16 August when the Nationalist colonel Unamuno said that he wanted the "jails emptied". These were the jails of Manacor to which Republicans had been taken. Two hundred were shot that night. "In the morning heat, there was an unbearable smell of burnt human flesh." The bodies are supposedly in the Manacor cemetery of Son Coletes.
The number of men from Son Servera who were shot during the Civil War was 52. Others lost their lives in different ways, while many more were placed in concentration camps. The occupations of the 52 have been noted. A doctor, a teacher, a shoemaker, a carpenter. But most were simple farmers. Just like the three men from Maria de la Salut whose bodies are being exhumed in Sant Joan.
Puntiró in Palma has a golf course. It was designed by Jack Nicklaus. It lies next to the old road to Sineu. If you carry on from Sineu, the next town you come to is Maria de la Salut. In October 1936, the three farmers and three others walked from Maria to Palma. They didn't make it to their destination. They were shot in Puntiró. Victims of the Falange, they were Republicans who had been turned in by neighbours. Their bodies were buried in the cemetery in Sant Joan.
The three others who had been made to walk to Palma that night in October managed to escape. One of them was to later testify that it was a Llorenç "Llebro" who shot the three men. One victim had shouted out, "do not kill me". The bodies were left in a well in Son Fred in Sencelles. They were found and taken to Sant Joan, where the local justice of the peace registered them as "unknown". They were placed in what was a communal grave in Sant Joan, the one which now has an unremarkable collection of plants growing on it. Some weeks later, on 28 December, relatives of the dead men claimed their identification but the bodies were not disinterred in order that confirmation could be made. Seventy-eight years later, following pressure from the association Memòria de Mallorca, the digging began on Monday. It is the first exhumation of its kind in Mallorca.
Six years ago, Judge Baltasar Garzón ordered the exhumation of mass graves. He was searching for evidence of slaughter by Franco's Nationalists. Three of these graves were in Mallorca - one in Calvia and two in Porreres. For his trouble, Garzón ended up being disqualified as a judge. He had exceeded his powers and had broken the principle of the amnesty, the legal forgetfulness that prevents Spain from truly coming to terms with the truth of its past. Work on exhumation started but was then paralysed by court order. It still is paralysed. Despite this legal obstacle, the Sant Joan grave, because of the association's insistence, the wishes of the families and the support of the town hall, is being exhumed.
There are reckoned to be 44 mass graves in Mallorca which contain perhaps as many as 2,000 bodies. 24 of them are in cemeteries, such as those of Calvia, Porreres and Sant Joan. Twelve others are in ditches by the sides of main roads. Four are in wells. And four more are under beaches, one of them being in Sa Coma, near to one of the two landing places used by Captain Bayo for his ultimately doomed expedition to wrest Mallorca from the Nationalists.
Sa Coma is in the municipality of Sant Llorenç. Just a bit north of Sa Coma is the resort of Cala Millor, part of which is in Sant Llorenç as well but with the other part in Son Servera. In Son Servera, at the last elections before the coup of July 1936, a Republican Left candidate had been voted in. It is thought that this was the reason why cruelty which occurred in Son Servera was as it was to later be. It is also said that in municipalities on Mallorca's Llevant coast there had been traditions of leftism and Republicanism, a product of discontent with landowners and the "cacique" political bosses that had been evident for many years.
The story of what happened in Son Servera in the lead-up to the coup and between it and the Bayo landings and the consequences of those landings has been detailed by the Memòria de Mallorca association. In one particularly chilling passage, it speaks of the events of the night of 16 August when the Nationalist colonel Unamuno said that he wanted the "jails emptied". These were the jails of Manacor to which Republicans had been taken. Two hundred were shot that night. "In the morning heat, there was an unbearable smell of burnt human flesh." The bodies are supposedly in the Manacor cemetery of Son Coletes.
The number of men from Son Servera who were shot during the Civil War was 52. Others lost their lives in different ways, while many more were placed in concentration camps. The occupations of the 52 have been noted. A doctor, a teacher, a shoemaker, a carpenter. But most were simple farmers. Just like the three men from Maria de la Salut whose bodies are being exhumed in Sant Joan.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Minor earthquake in Sant Joan, Mallorca
An earthquake measuring 2.1 on the Richter scale has been registered in the vicinity of Sant Joan in the centre of Mallorca. It is described as being nothing exceptional and in keeping with seismic events which occur two or three times a year on the island. One of the main causes for tremors on Mallorca is the existence of the Sencelles fault. Sant Joan is close to Sencelles.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Johnny Remember Me
There’s something very odd going on here.
I live in Playa de Muro. That means I live in the municipality of Muro. Yet I know what goes on for the Sant Pere fiesta in Alcúdia. I know about Patrona in Pollensa. I know these things. What I don’t know, except by chance, is what happens in my own town.
Muro is currently celebrating the fiesta of Sant Joan (Saint John). Does anyone know about it?
I recently asked the lovely Cati at the Playa de Muro tourist office if she could mail me with information for Muro, like Pilar in Alcúdia does. Problem. Not that she won’t, just that the town hall doesn't get its act together (and that’s most certainly not her fault) and seems to have forgotten that there are people living in Playa de Muro. Living and visiting. Now, might it not just be that people here on holiday would want to go to the pueblo of Muro to enjoy the festivities? Ok, some of it is pretty obscure for non-natives, but there is, for instance, a massive disco party on the 24th (music from the 70s and 80s, starts at 23:00). There is, for instance, a bullfight (if you can stomach it) at 18:30 on the 25th. There is, for instance, a grand fireworks display, also on the 25th.
How do I know? Because I’ve looked at the town hall’s website. All in Mallorquín. Fat lot of use.
Look, I am quite happy to translate this stuff. I did so for the Sant Pere fiesta in Alcúdia. Put up the information on www.thealcudiaguide.com and on the What’s On Blog. No one pays me. I don’t care. I’m giving a service. More than some are.
Anyway, maybe I’ll do a full translation for the Muro gig. But only because I think people who are here should have the opportunity to know what goes on. People who don’t happen to speak Mallorquín.
In the newspaper “Part Forana”, there was a note about the fiesta. It said at the end that everyone was invited. Great. But they can’t go if no one tells them.
Quiz time. Ok, you win, or rather you don’t. It wasn’t Johnny Waitrose as some wag had it. The answer was Nicky Tesco and the band was The Members. Huge prize today. A copy of the Muro Sant Joan programme scrawled on the back of a fag packet to anyone who can name The Members’ big hit. Also... today’s title. Who sang it?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
I live in Playa de Muro. That means I live in the municipality of Muro. Yet I know what goes on for the Sant Pere fiesta in Alcúdia. I know about Patrona in Pollensa. I know these things. What I don’t know, except by chance, is what happens in my own town.
Muro is currently celebrating the fiesta of Sant Joan (Saint John). Does anyone know about it?
I recently asked the lovely Cati at the Playa de Muro tourist office if she could mail me with information for Muro, like Pilar in Alcúdia does. Problem. Not that she won’t, just that the town hall doesn't get its act together (and that’s most certainly not her fault) and seems to have forgotten that there are people living in Playa de Muro. Living and visiting. Now, might it not just be that people here on holiday would want to go to the pueblo of Muro to enjoy the festivities? Ok, some of it is pretty obscure for non-natives, but there is, for instance, a massive disco party on the 24th (music from the 70s and 80s, starts at 23:00). There is, for instance, a bullfight (if you can stomach it) at 18:30 on the 25th. There is, for instance, a grand fireworks display, also on the 25th.
How do I know? Because I’ve looked at the town hall’s website. All in Mallorquín. Fat lot of use.
Look, I am quite happy to translate this stuff. I did so for the Sant Pere fiesta in Alcúdia. Put up the information on www.thealcudiaguide.com and on the What’s On Blog. No one pays me. I don’t care. I’m giving a service. More than some are.
Anyway, maybe I’ll do a full translation for the Muro gig. But only because I think people who are here should have the opportunity to know what goes on. People who don’t happen to speak Mallorquín.
In the newspaper “Part Forana”, there was a note about the fiesta. It said at the end that everyone was invited. Great. But they can’t go if no one tells them.
Quiz time. Ok, you win, or rather you don’t. It wasn’t Johnny Waitrose as some wag had it. The answer was Nicky Tesco and the band was The Members. Huge prize today. A copy of the Muro Sant Joan programme scrawled on the back of a fag packet to anyone who can name The Members’ big hit. Also... today’s title. Who sang it?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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