Autumn is when many of the traditional fairs are celebrated around the island allowing visitors and residents to understand more about the roots, cultures and traditions of Mallorca.
In the village of Escorca which is known for its attractive stone-built fincas (country houses), in the UNESCO-protected Sierra Tramuntana, an environmental and agricultural fair is organised on the main square during the second weekend in October. Small companies which operate within the mountains come together to show their wares.
On October 21, the whole of the island celebrates the day of the Virgins. Typically, men serenade the women and a group of musicians in Alcudia are commissioned by their suitors, friends, fathers or godfathers to play. Women traditionally show their gratitude by offering the men bunyols (doughnuts) and mistela (a sweet wine).
Every year, on the second weekend in November, the market town of Pollensa holds its arts and crafts fair where stalls are set up selling home-madefood, hand-made clothes, jewellery, soap and wine. At the same time, the cloister of Santo Domingo is transformed into an exhibition space where a wide variety of artisans and designers from Pollensa and around the island exhibit their latest creations.
These aside town of Muro celebrates all aspects of the pumpkin in the Feria de la Calabaza from November 12 to 14.
Olives, and the annual harvest, form a key marker in the agricultural calender of the island. The fair at Caimari, a traditional Mallorcan village again known for abundance of fincas and country estates lying in the foothills of theTramuntana mountains, takes place on the third weekend of November and marks the start of the olive harvest. The quality of the oil is controlled by the Illes Baleares Qualitat standard. One of the most spectacular places to enjoy the harvest is at Pedruxella Gran, a posessió (country manor house) in the sought after valle d’en March, which hosts special olive pressing weekends (October 28 and November 4, 2017). Guests are invited to come and take part in the old-fashioned harvest by collecting the olives from the trees, watching the pressing using a traditional tafona (press) and taking a first production of the oil—alongside other tapas and traditional Mallorcan food and wine.
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About the author: Arabella Youens is a freelance editor and journalist based in London. Having studied at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and worked both for a summer in Palma and a year in Barcelona, she speaks good Spanish and covered the top-end property marketing the Balearics for over ten years while she was Property Editor of Country Life magazine. Today, she continues to write about property and interiors across a variety of titles including The Telegraph, Country Life, London’s Evening Standard, City AM, Homes & Gardens and Country & Town House.