If you’re ever in Mallorca in mid-January, let yourself be swept up in the magic of fire, music and dancing of the nit mágica or nit bruixa (“witching night”) of 16th January, the Eve of Saint Anthony’s Day. A night when passions are unleashed and the feeling of belonging to the island is affirmed, when you can experience one of Mallorca’s oldest popular festivals, which is also one of the closest to the hearts of islanders, first-hand.
But where does this tradition, with such a dark central figure, come from?
On Mallorca, the festival surrounding the relationship between Sant Antoni (Saint Anthony) and the devil goes back to the 18th century, and draws on ancient ceremonies around fertility, crops and the protection of animals. Sant Antoni is the protector of the island’s peasant farmers, and the devil represents the temptations the Saint had to overcome.
Looking even further back in the past, historian Antoni Gili believes that fire wheels, dancing in general and round dances are reminisences of fire rituals officiated by shamans and witchdoctors to celebrate the drawing out of the days, and representing the strength of the sun and the victory of light over darkness.
Which is why bonfires are lit, with the romantic aim of connecting to primeval humans, whose customs were unsullied by civilisation. Fire symbolises the rebirth of the sun that fertilises the earth. In many villages the ceremony of leaping over the fire is still performed, to musical accompaniment.
On this magical night, rooted in antiquity, dimonis (demons) emerge from their “dark hiding place” to throng in the squares of many a village in Mallorca, and perform their dances around the fire. In places like Sa Pobla, Manacor, Capdepera or Artà, this is a very long-standing celebration which has boomed over recent decades. There are currently more than 50 groups of dimonis on the Balearic Islands.
Traditional music is at the heart of all the celebrations – the dances of the dimonis, the ancestral singing to the sound of a rumblepot called the ximbomba (*), coupled with the popular dances that customarily accompany these festivities. One very popular activity is the singing of erotic songs on this witching night and some historians say that many years ago this festival may well have ended in an orgy.
On the 17th of January, the feast of Sant Antoni Abat (Saint Anthony Abbot) - the patron saint of animals - and the day of the Mallorcan peasantry, most of the island’s villages hold ses beneïdes, blessings in which thousands of people take their animals to receive the holy water of Sant Antoni and in some villages, such as Felanitx, Es Carritxó, S’Horta… (not far from our hotels) floats depicting rural Mallorcan themes are prepared. Those taking part wear traditional attire, and there are two essential figures: Sant Antoni and el dimoni, the devil. The participants generally pay tribute to their patron saint by singing, dancing or reciting a few gloses (**) or improvised songs (verses on the theme of the fiesta, which are often satires on current political, social or economic events).
This extremely valuable cultural expression brings us closer to our ancestors, who worked the fields and led an extremely austere, yet noble and beautiful life, in complete communion with nature and the seasons. One could say that we experience this festival as a kind of journey into the past, identifying with the feelings of those men and women of old.
Make your booking at one of our Inturotel hotels on Mallorca. We will be delighted to tell you more about this and other original traditions from our region! ¡Visca Sant Antoni!
(*) “ximbomba”: An ancient musical instrument, a friction drum comprised of an earthenware pot with a round neck and a hole at the base. The top is covered with a skin that is perforated in the centre, through which a cane is passed. When the cane is massaged with a wet hand, the pot acts as a kind of sound box, producing a rumbling roar.
(**) “glosa” On the Balearic Islands, this is a kind of rhyming oral composition, normally improvised at the time of declamation.
