Festivals!

So, January should be known as festival month in Mallorca. It seems like the entire month was just a series of parties and celebrations. The biggest ones were San Antoni and San Sebastian. San Antoni (which is the Catalan spelling) is a holiday in honor of Saint Anthony. It is celebrated all over the island, but the big parties are in the smaller towns of Sa Pobla and Manacor. I'm not exactly sure of what the festival actually celebrates, but the way they celebrate is awesome! Nikki, Eric, our friends Mike and Irene, and myself made the our-long train ride to the other side of the island to celebrate in Sa Pobla. The train was incredibly crowded, at times feeling like a Japanese subway with workers cramming passengers into the railcars like sardines. When we arrived, we made our way to the Plaza Mayor to see the fireworks, which were amazing. The plaza was as crowded as the train, but our space in the crowd was right below most of the fireworks. After the show, the streets cleared a bit since many families went home. Traditionally though, the party continues well into the next day (the last free train left at 6 AM), so we were prepared for some craziness. The way Mallorcans celebrate San Antoni (and San Sebastiá for that matter) is to build HUGE bonfires in every plaza in the city. Everyone then brings various meats (mostly local sausages), bread, veggies, and alcohol. You cook your meat on the embers of the giant fires, drink your booze, and generally have a blast. In the US, it would be unheard of to have that many "uncontrolled" fires and fireworks, without a permit, some sort of restrictions on how close to the fire spectators could get, etc. Here, they embodied the Spanish mentality of "No pasa nada." We met up with others in our program and took full advantage of the festivities, though we made it home well before 6 AM. There were concerts of really great Mallorcan music (some even native to Sa Pobla). The coolest was a group of elderly singers and musicians which played an instrument I had never seen before. It was a grooved wooden stick, stuck into a small drum-like base. The musicians soaked their hand in water and ran it over the stick, which would echo through the drum and produced an odd drone sound. They would play like this, keeping rhythm and singing. Apparently, the lyrics are witty, sometimes vulgar musings on politics, other leaders, and even other singing participants. So, it was a local version of a rap battle! 

Later in the month, Palma celebrated San Sebastian (or San Sebastiá), Palma's patron saint. Similarly to San Antoni, giant bonfires and grilling meat were a big part of the celebrations. Also included were "castells" (groups of people who climb each other and make human towers), and "gigants," which, as the name implies, are giant paper mache sculptures of people that walk around the plaza and dance. There were concerts in every single plaza in Palma (anything from gypsy music, to traditional Mallorcan music, to rock). At the very end of the celebration (which lasted an entire week) was a "Correfoc", or a Fire Run. All down Las Ramblas, people gathered. A never-ending parade of people dressed as demons descended upon the streets, shooting fireworks (imagine sparklers on steroids) into the crowds. People would dance with the demons under the fire, run away from them. Some small children brought pitchforks with which to fight the demons that came near them. There were groups of drums interspersed throughout the parade. The noise was deafening with drums, explosions, cheers, chainsaws (wielded by demons), singing. It finally ended at the Cathedral with a spectacular fireworks show. It was a great time to be here, and definitely gave me a taste of the local culture. It was an experience that made me realize "Oh yeah. I'm living in Spain!" Next up: Carnival!