During the Summer village festes, one can sometimes see the demonstration of traditional Mallorcan arts and crafts, such as here, the weaving of baskets, hats and other some such trinkets.
The ladies in my photo are from Capdepera in the East of Mallorca, where this tradition is still upheld. The basket weavers use the leaves of the palmito palm tree (Chamaerops humilis L.), also called palmitera, or margalló in Catalán, or garballó in Mallorquin, for their handiwork. This traditional Mallorcan craft is known by the name of Llatra. There is a very informative website giving endless insights into all aspects of the Llatra craft, its tools, the materials used and so on. The only drawback is that it is in Catalán. However, if you should be interested, the ample offer of photographs could easily be enjoyed even without a great many linguistic abilities. Just try it.
The Chamaerops humilis L. palm tree, by the way, is the only truly indigenous palm tree in Mallorca. All other palm trees are imported from either North Africa, the Canary Islands, or else from the American or Asian continents.
The photo was taken in Selva, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: June 8th, 2008. The time was 12:00:21.
