Festivals of Pollensa

For locals, residents and tourists alike, one of the major attractions of the market town of Pollensa is that it maintains its cultural identity and up holds an authentically Mallorquin way life which is manifested through its annual calendar of fiestas and festivals.

Of all the ancient religious celebrations on the island–and there are many–Pollensa’s annual summer fiesta, La Patrona, is one of the most dramatic of them all and widely regarded as one of the key cultural high lights of Mallorca. For the week-long fiesta (July 25 to August 2), the town is packed with locals and tourists who crowd in to watch the spectacle.

The big day begins at 5 am on August 2 when everyone falls silent to listen to the brass band play ‘L’Alborada’. The Christians are dressed in white (to reflect the fact that the battle started when most where still asleep in their nightshirts) and the Draguts (moors) in pirate-style bright colours and face paint to cover their identity. After the ‘battle’, the party goes on late in the evening and well into the early hours—with renowned levels of rowdiness (windows of the main bars are taken out each year as a precaution).

But the fiesta story doesn’t end there. Among other highlights in the calendar include when Pollensins gather together to celebrate Sant Antoni on January 16 & 17. A pine tree, stripped of its branches, dragged through the streets, scrubbed with soap and set up in Placa Vella. Locals are then challenged to climb to the top. Bonfires are set up in every square and the celebrations are followed by a day blessing the animals which are paraded through to town.

Pollensa also hosts one of the most moving events of Holy Week (Easter) when at dusk, and in silence, thousands watch the re-enactment of the ‘devallament’ the descent from the cross—when a figure of Christ is carried down the 365 steps of Calvary.

Other colourful spectacles in Pollensa

June: Corpus Cristi procession

July: Feste de la Verge del Carme, Puerto Pollensa

August: Festival de Pollenca (music festival)

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.