Sant Antoni – Carnival or last days – Holy Week, Easter and “Angel Sunday” – Sa Fira, “The Fair” – The Giants of Santa Maria del Camí meeting – Fiestas in honour of St. Margaret, Patron Saint of the village (20th July) – The New Wine Festival – Christmas Celebrations

Sant Antoni (17th January)

On the feast of Sant Antoni, fire and demons come to the fore, and in Santa Maria del Camí one can’t imagine this occasion without them. You’ll be able to enjoy activities such as demon-mask workshops for children, the demon-rally, guided tours, exhibitions, correfocs (fire-runs), bonfire-lighting, musical performances, barbecuing in Plaça de la Vila (square) of traditional Mallorcan sausage products (black puddings, pork sausage, pancetta, etc.) and on the evening before, traditional songs improvised by the locals, accompanied by traditional instruments, such as friction-drums. During the festival, companion animals receive Sant Antoni’s blessing.
Also, for the past few years the Quintos have been accompanying the four Temptations on their search for Feliu the demon, before going to the church in search of St. Anthony. The four Temptations, the demon and St. Anthony dance their traditional dance during the “capture” and bar-run. To finalize the ritual, they dance and sing the storyline one last time.
In addition to char-grilled pork, at Sant Antoni, it’s traditional to eat spinach pie.

Carnival or last days (February)

Carnival, of pagan origin, is celebrated 7 weeks after the first full moon following the winter solstice. It’s a folk-festival where games are played, beginning on Fat Thursday (the last Thursday before Lent). Costumes, floats in procession, music and colour are the protagonists of Sa Rua and Sa Rueta (the adult’s and children’s carnivals respectively). The food traditionally eaten in the run-up to Lent is the ensaïmada “de tallades” (covered with sobrassada and candied pumpkin) and the “casserole of the last days”. The burial of the sardine marks the end of the festival and the beginning of Lent. It’s traditional on this day to roast sardines.

Holy Week, Easter and “Angel Sunday” (April)

Holy Week is the period from Palm Sunday, just when Lent ends, to Easter Sunday.
On Palm Sunday, Christ’s entry into Jerusalem is commemorated with a procession. On this day it’s traditional for godparents to give their godchildren palms – tender palm tree branches worked by hand – which are taken to church to be blessed, along with olive and laurel branches. After this day, the palms and olive branches bedeck the balconies of the village.
You’ll be able to attend the various processions or caraputxes that are held in the village, playing out the last moments in the life of Christ, with the procession of the various floats and confraries (brother/sisterhoods), accompanied by the penitents, on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday (Way of the Cross or Descent) and Holy Saturday.
Holy Week ends on Easter Sunday, when most towns and villages hold the procession of the Meeting, which plays out the resurrected Christ’s reunion with his mother.
On the first Sunday after Easter, known as Diumenge de l’Àngel (Angel Sunday), sanctuaries and chapels hold festive celebrations and pilgrimages, known as Pancaritats. The people of Santa Maria del Camí climb up to Son Seguí Chapel where, in the company of the Gegants de Santa Maria (Giants of Santa Maria), they eat a folk-lunch.
At Easter you’ll be able to enjoy the gastronomic products traditional to this time of year, such as panades, robiols and crespells, which you’ll be able to find in our bakeries and pâtisseries.

Sa Fira, “The Fair” (last Sunday in April)

Santa Maria del Camí Fair presents a wide variety of activities and leisure pursuits that you won’t want to miss. They include charity races, musical and literary presentations, the traditional showing of Mobylettes (mopeds), exhibitions and artistic displays on La Nit de l’Art (Art Night), sports tournaments, the traditional evening when ‘frit’ is eaten, correfocs (fire-runs), musical performances, talks, showing of autochthonous animals, display of traditional handicrafts, showing and tasting of Balearic Produce, display of Santa Maria wines, display of local goods, alternative and sustainable fair, attractions, drummers’ and flautists’ parade with giants, concert by the musical band, traditional paper balloon workshops, children’s activities, gastronomic show-cooking and tasting, release of the paper balloons; and, to round off the fiesta, a firework castle.

The Giants of Santa Maria del Camí meeting (first Saturday in May)

“Gegants de Santa Maria” (Giants of Santa Maria) is a non-profit organisation set up in 2006. The giants represent characters from fables, taken from the book Fables and Legends of Santa Maria by Monsignor Josep Capó and Juan and Mateu Morro i Marcé. The male giant represents Soler “The Banished”, and the female giant represents Maria of Coanegra. Mariano “Kake” Portas, an artist settled in Esporles, was commissioned to construct the giants. Kake’s wife made the giants’ clothes. The giants made their début on 5th May 2007, at the First Meeting of Giants of Santa Maria del Camí. The group is made up of the giants, the musicians and the capgrossos (people wearing oversized papier-mâché heads): these are homely, festive folk who show their high regard for the giants.

Giants’ meeting: first Saturday in May

http://gegantssantamaria.org/
Giants of Santa Maria on Facebook

Fiestas in honour of St. Margaret, Patron Saint of the village (20th July)

During the fiestas in honour of Santa Margalida (St. Margaret of Antioch), Patron Saint of Santa Maria del Camí, you’ll be able to enjoy a wide variety of activities and events.
The most traditional event, which marks the beginning of the fiestas, is the hoisting of the crimson flag of the municipality on the bell tower of the parish church, along with the release of rockets and the pealing of bells.
The collas (groups of people) are an essential feature of the Patron Saint’s Day fiestas. Various groups of villagers compete in a series of trials with the aim of winning the Folk-Games. It’s traditional for last year’s winning group to read out the proclamation. The groups have to keep passing tests, such as performing in a Playback, a photographic test, decorating the village, etc. On the day of the Folk-Games, the groups gather in Plaça Hostals (square), where a water-fight is held, then they parade to Plaça Nova. There the Games are held: various traditional folk-events, such as tug-of-war with a rope, tug-of-war with a bar, sack races, horseshoes, skipping, a surprise-event and, to round off the Games, the soapy (to make it slippery) pole. The evening ends with dinner in the street and music.
During the fiestas, there’s a competition to design the fiestas t-shirt and the cockerel which is set on top of the soapy pole during the Folk-Games.
During the fiestas, it’s traditional for the villagers to hang in their balconies crimson banners with the municipality’s coat of arms.
Children also play a big part in the fiestas, with activities such as the Grand Prix, the bicycle-decorating workshop and rally of decorated bicycles, musical performances, the gymkhana-by-night for youngsters, the children’s water party, showings of films, etc. The traditional bareback horse races are an inseparable part of the fiestas.
For sports lovers there are various seminars, displays, bicycle ride by night, tournaments, open-air lessons, etc.
Art-lovers can enjoy the various displays, the evening of Poetry in the Vineyard, theatrical performances, etc.
If what you like best is music and dancing, during the fiestas you can make the most of the various performances, habaneras, batucada, musical evenings, a street parade with the xeremiers of Santa Maria del Camí, concert by the musical band, concerts, etc.
Al-fresco bingo and Dirt Track with Mobylette (moped) are also regular features at our fiestas.
It’s traditional to have a Folk-Tremponada, when the municipality’s various organizations and associations cook trempó for dinner and the evening is livened up by our Giants and a “ball de bot” folk dance, along with al-fresco dining. You’ll also be able to enjoy some traditional Mallorcan dishes on tapas-night.
On St. Margaret’s Day, Mass is concelebrated in honour of the Patron Saint, along with the “ball de l’Oferta” dance.

The New Wine Festival (last Saturday in November)

One important event is the “Festa del Vi Novell” (New Wine Festival), held on the last Saturday in November of each year. This celebrates the arrival of the new wine in the wineries, which traditionally was announced to the people by placing a pine branch above the doorway of each winery. During the festival this pine branch, which each winery will hang over its doorway, is handed over. Following this act of protocol, the festival continues with a wine-tasting accompanied by tapas made by the municipality’s various restaurants.

 Download the program of 2014

Christmas Celebrations

On these red-letter dates, in Santa Maria it’s traditional to make almond-milk. During these days we can enjoy various activities such as Christmas concerts, charity events, tours, a Christmas market, Christmas workshops for all ages, organized excursions, family shows, showings of Christmas films for children, talks, etc. On the 24th it’s traditional to attend the Song of the Sybil at the Christmas Matins in the Parish Church, followed by chocolate-drinking at Ca’n Sancho. We also see out the old year with bell-ringing, grapes and cava (sparkling wine) in Plaça de la Vila (Town Square), and we see in the New Year with musical performances. The Musical Band of Santa Maria del Camí gives the New Year’s Concert. And New Year would not be New Year without the Magician Kings’ parade through the streets at Epiphany.