Category Archives: Events

The Synagogal Anniversary

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Synagogues did not exist in Mallorca between 1435 and 1987. The island’s Jewish community had been banished and eradicated twice, first in 1391 and then in 1544, had been massacred, persecuted, chased away, burned at the stake, killed, executed, exiled, expelled or forcibly converted.

In 1987, the first Mallorcan synagogue for 550 years was consecrated. Last week, the Jewish Community in Mallorca celebrated the 25th anniversary of the opening of the synagogue in Palma. The ceremony was attended by various local authorities as well as the President of the Balearic Parliament, Pere Rotger.

Yehei shmëh rabba mevarakh lealam ulalmey almaya (May His great name be blessed for ever, and to all eternity).

The photo was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: September 2nd, 2012. The time was 11:25:16. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of diariodemallorca.es and the photographer, Guillem Bosch.

Muchas gracias.

The Truth in Literature

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Literature has always been about the conflict between fiction and reality, the clash between the real and the surreal, the relation between the mind and the written word. Some of these arguments will be explored in Formentor from next week on Friday, during the annual Converses Literàries de Formentor 2012 which will take place at the Hotel Formentor from September 14th to 16th.

Ulysses, Hamlet, Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina and other important personalities in Literature are the topics of this year’s literary colloquium.

Authors participating in this year’s Literary summit are expected to be Pau Faner, Cristina Fernández Cubas, Jesús Ferrero, Carlos García Gual, Eduardo Gil Bera, Irene Gracia, Leila Guerriero, Gabriel Janer Manila, José María Lassalle, Olga Merino, Ana Maria Moix, Javier Montes, Maria Antònia Oliver, José María Ridao, Carme Riera, Manuel Rodríguez Rivero, Marta Sanz, Fernando Savater, Manuel Vicent, Dario Villanueva. The event will be chaired by Basilio Baltasar.

In 1959, the Spanish author Camilo José Cela gathered a group of literary colleagues at the Conversaciones Poéticas de Formentor in the island’s northern-most mountain range. In 1961, this event led to the Premios Formentor competition, which was held again in Formentor the following year, although it would travel to other places in the world after that. In 2008, a revival of these international literary gatherings returned to Mallorca, and has been held in Formentor ever since.

The photo (top) was chosen from my archive. It was taken near Port de Pollença, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: February 14th, 2009. The time was 14:28:35. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of elpais.com. It had in turn been taken from the book Historia de la literatura española. Derrota y restitución de la modernidad: 1939-2010. The authors in that photo are (from left to right) Juan Goytisolo (National Prize for Spanish Literature, 2009), Víctor Seix, Camilo José Cela (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1989), Josep Maria Castellet and Juan García Hortelano. Behind, to the left, Joan Fuster and to the right, Josep M. Espinàs.

Muchas gracias.

Hen Nights, Mallorca Style

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If you spend enough hours at Palma’s airport like I did the other night waiting for a friend whose plane was delayed for two hours, you’ll be treated to all sorts of sights. Such as Kristen, the bride to be, and her female friends, quite probably heading for Magaluf on a Hen Night outing.

Over the last five years, Mallorca has come to specialize in Hen Nights and Stag Does, on a par with Ibiza, Barcelona, Benidorm, Amsterdam and Budapest. Mallorca may be less extreme in its offering when compared to Amsterdam and Budapest, but the sun and the sea more than make up for it, and there is always Sangria and sex. Hen Weekend packages are available from £ 69 (88 €) per person, excluding flights, with no upper limit for the more discerning hedonists. Mind you, there was not much discernment recognizable as far as Kristen’s cheerful troupe was concerned.

The photo was taken near Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 24th, 2012. The time was 20:11:04.

Mountain Olympics at the Barranc de Biniaraix

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Whilst the couch potatoes amongst us, including yours truly, were busy watching the London 2012 Olympics on the telly last Sunday, a few hundred Mallorcan men and women (and children and dogs) participated in a kind of Mountain Olympics at the Barranc de Biniaraix, near Sóller. The competition was organised by the Secció de Muntanya del Círculo Sollerense and was held for the eleventh year. The contest was held in two categories, one against the clock and the other one just for the excitement of participating. The course had a length of 4.8 kilometres of cobbled Cami de Pedra en Sec.

Young Pere Rullan Estarelles was the overall winner in the male category with a time of 00:28:15, whilst María Eugenia Gallastegui Alemany was the fastest female with a time of 00:38:50.

If you haven’t been to the Barranc de Biniaraix you should make that one of your walks and hikes to do when the Olympics are over and done with. You will find one of the best scenic routes on the island, I promise, and you won’t have to run.

The photo was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of flickr.com, C.C.D.S. and the photographer, Joan Vicens i Vidal.

Thank you very much, and

moltes gràcies.

Monthly Lunchtime Organ Concerts in Palma’s Cathedral

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One of the finest organs in Mallorca can be found in Palma’s Cathedral. Sadly, there are not many opportunities to hear the sound of this instrument. For the last ten or twelve years, a Festival Internacional de Órgano en la Catedral de Mallorca was celebrated during the four Sundays in October. There is a possibility that this Festival may have to be suspended this year. La Crisis.

Tomorrow, however, there will be a chance to listen to the Gothic organ at the occasion of a series of lunchtime concerts performed by Bartomeu Veny Vidal, the Cathedral’s organist. These half-hour concerts will be given every first Tuesday of the month at 12h00, with the exception of December and January. The concerts will be given for free, but there is an admission charge to the Cathedral of 4 €, unless you are a resident with proper documents in which case admission is granted free of charge.

The organ in Palma’s Cathedral was built in 1477, rebuilt in 1795 and restored in 1993; in 2006 it was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Cultural Heritage).

The photos were taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: July 10th, 2012. The time was 12:29:48 and 11:04:23, respectively.

The Annual Drag to Lluc

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Tonight is the night of the annual walk from Palma’s Plaça Güell to the monastery of Lluc, up in the mountains of the Serra de Tramuntana. The marxa (walk) is in its 39th edition this year, starting at 23h00, extending to 43 kilometres and finishing at the Santuario de Lluc in the early hours of Sunday morning.

This year’s walk is the first one to charge a modest fee to cover organisational expenses. Participants will have paid 2 € for the Passagüell passport in which stamps have to be collected when passing through Palma (starting point), Binissalem, Selva and Lluc (finish). In return, participants will receive a T-shirt, fruit and water during the walk as well as roadside assistance including foot massage and first aid wherever needed. Last year, some 8,000 walkers attended with 6,500 or so reaching their destination.

I must admit that I have never participated yet. I would have wanted to. Perhaps next year I will.

The photo (top) was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 1st, 2012. The time was 13:04:31. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of desguellallucapeu.es.

Muchas gracias.

The Other Half

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The other day, a commemorative act was held in Portocolom to mark the 90th anniversary of the foundation of Spain’s first civil school for amphibian planes, the Escuela de Hidroaviación Civil. The occasion was reason enough for the President of the Consell de Mallorca, Maria Salom Coll, to descend upon this Eastern harbour town together with a few mandarins in her entourage. The festive act with self-important speeches by the political class was marred by a cacophony of ear-piercing whistles, shouting and booing by up to a hundred mostly young protesters. The audience attending was clearly divided into two groups of pretty equal numbers. The scene was a fair mirror image of today’s society in Spain and more to the point, Mallorca. La Crisis in Spain and here on the island seems to be affecting one half of the population whilst the other half happily pursues a routine of daily life as if everything were normal. I was shocked to see how seemingly far removed the political class present in Portocolom appeared from half their populace. They were all smiling and irritatingly cheerful, totally ignorant of the motives of the protesters who appeared to belong to the 21.3 % (24.6 % in all of Spain) of unemployed, or rather, 48 % in the case of youngsters under the age of 35, which seemed about the age range of the whistlers.

Massive protests have been seen frequently over the last six months wherever the president of the Govern Balear or his counterpart at the Consell de Mallorca made public appearances, either in Sa Pobla, Inca, Felanitx, Sóller, Andratx or Muro. Political decisions effecting cuts and changes in education, language, the health system, paired with effects of inflation, unemployment, taxation and dispossession have caused a lot of ill will amongst many citizens that the ruling body shrugs off without any further discussion. The argument goes like this ‘We have been elected with a majority and will now do as we please‘. A pity though that half the adult citizens did not vote Conservative and seem to feel utterly misrepresented.

It appears only fitting that just two days earlier, the government in Madrid had set up a new Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (Ministry of Homeland Security). I think that sooner or later the street protests in Spain will not be restricted to mere whistling.

The photo was taken in Portocolom, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: July 25th, 2012. The time was 19:27:48.

Saint Christopher and the Car Blessings

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According to the Catholic faith, Saint Christopher is the saint of safe travel. It is quite customary, here and elsewhere, to put Saint Christopher medals on display in one’s car to bless the vehicle, the driver and the passengers with safe journeys there and back.

There are a few pueblos in Mallorca where this tradition is upheld, amongst others Felanitx, Biniali and Sant Joan, and of course Palma. A Beneïdes (blessing) of lorries, cars and motorbikes will take place next Saturday, July 7th, in Portocolom, the harbour town of Felanitx. The time will be 10h30. I am giving you a few days warning in case you would want to make your way to Portocolom. I am not sure about the date of similar blessings in Biniali, but last year it happened to be a week or two after Felanitx. I don’t know the reason for this divergence of dates. As far as I know, the official saint’s day is July 10th. The Saint Christopher blessings are usually officiated by a priest or someone similarly qualified.

Beneïdes de Sant Cristòfol blessings were also held in the village of Sant Joan for the last 56 years, but they have now been cancelled for this year. Apparently there has been some conflict between the Penya Motorista Sant Joan and the local Ajuntament. What can I say?

The photo was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of diariodemallorca.es and the photographer, M. Bosch.

Muchas gracias.

The Torrent des Pareis Concert

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The annual concert at the most impressive Torrent des Pareis setting will be given tomorrow, July 1st, 2012, by Cap Pela, a young Mallorcan rock band singing a capella, with voices only and no instruments. Cap Pela are quite popular and have a sizable following. They have toured Germany recently, giving concerts in Leipzig, as well as Cannes in France. Tomorrow’s concert will be free, franc and gratis, as it is being sponsored by Sa Nostra, the Mallorcan savings bank. Moltes gràcies.

If you can’t make tomorrow’s event, you can also hear Cap Pela in Sa Màniga (Cala Millor) on July 6th, as well as on July 28th at the Claustre de Santo Domingo (Pollença), but then you will have to pay between 12 € and 25 €. Here’s a sample of a performance of theirs, courtesy of YouTube:

The images were borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of enunclickclack.blogspot.com.es (top) and cappela.es (centre). The video was borrowed from YouTube, courtesy of CapPelaOficial.

Thank you very much, and

muchas gracias.

Palma Photo 2012

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Palma Photo 2012 was inaugurated one week ago, June 21st. Twenty galleries and museums dedicate some or all of their exhibition spaces to photography. Some of the photographic work is truly inspiring. At the CaixaForum, for instance, you can see some somber images of religious rites in Spain during the 1970s and ’80s (see photo above). At the Baluard Museu d’Art, portraits and still lifes are presented from the hand – and the eye – of Tony Catany, one of the most outstanding photographers alive in Mallorca (see photo below). Other galleries and exhibition spaces are: Aba Art, Altair, La Caja Blanca, Ferran Cano, Casal Solleric, Xavier Fiol, Maior, Horrach Moyá, Joan Oliver, Pelaires CCC, Fran Reus, SKL, Ses Voltes, Gabriel Vanrell, etc. Most exhibitions will be open until well into July. You could go and indulge yourself visually.

Artists participating in PalmaPhoto 2012 include: Toni Amengual, Nobuyoshi Araki, Adam Ball, Jordi Bernardó, Pepe Cañabate, Toni Catany, Diana Coca, Mitos Colom, Jorge Cosmen, Elger Esser, Nando Esteva, Alicia Framis, Alberto Garcia-Alix, Cristina García Rodero, Pabo Genovés, Susi Gómez, Fernando Guijar, Maria Hook, María Juarros, Nuri Llompart, Andrés López, Robert Mapplethorpe, Almagul Menlibayeva, López Moral, Joan Morey, Antonio Navarro, Cecilia Paredes, Teresa Pou, Lluís Real, Javier Saguillo, Charles Sandinson, Amparo Sard, Eulàlia Valldosera, Gori Vicens and Massimo Vitali.

The photo (top) was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: June 27th, 2012. The time was 17:56:40. The images (centre and bottom) were borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of esbaluard.org and palmaphoto.es.

Moltes gràcies, and

muchas gracias.