Who Are Fiestas For?

In the late 1960s, a leaflet was produced to promote the Cossier folk dancers of Algaida. This was a curious time for Mallorca and its traditions, the Franco regime appearing disinterested in them and preferring instead to make them subordinate to standardised tradtions of Spain. Flamenco and so on, therefore became the symbols of tradition in the resorts. Apparent disinterest was compounded by migration. Workers moved to the coasts, so when it came time for the annual fiestas back in the village, any number of them could no longer attend. The old traditions began to wane.

The perception of disinterest wasn't an entirely accurate one though. While initially, at the start of the tourism boom, traditions and fiestas in Mallorca were paid little attention to, there was a gradual appreciation that they might actually have some benefit for tourism. A landmark decision in this regard, where Mallorca was concerned, was the declaration of Sa Pobla's Sant Antoni fiestas as being in the national tourist interest. This was in 1966. Sant Antoni does of course take place in January, but even back then, there was a realisation that tourism had to break out of a seasonal pattern. It was why, for example, the regime made "tourism days" mandatory towards the end of September: the season in the early years more or less stopped once schools in Britain and Germany had gone back.

The Algaida Cossiers had something in common with the Sa Pobla fiesta, and they still do. They dance during the summer fiestas of Sant Jaume, but they also appear at exactly the same time in January, when Algaida honours its winter patron, Sant Honorat. So, by the late 1960s the Fomento del Turismo, the Mallorca Tourism Board, was assisting in the promotion of the Cossiers, which also meant that the fiestas themselves were being promoted.

If you go right back in time to the start of organised tourism development with the formation of the tourism board in 1905, you will find that fiestas and fairs were among promotional efforts. Though these were specifically for Palma, which made perfect sense given the undeveloped nature of the island, the tourism potential was being explored.

Come into the present, and two years ago the town hall in Algaida published its strategy for tourism. All municipalities in Mallorca had been told by the tourism ministry that they had to have one. Though Carlos Delgado, the minister who insisted on this, took his fair share of criticism, the order that was sent out to the town halls was a sensible one. For the first time, an attempt was being made at some form of unified strategy for the whole island, a strategy based on the importance of tourism for each and every part of Mallorca.

Algaida, a town with very little actual tourism in the sense of having tourism accommodation, focused its strategy on a variety of elements, one of which was the dance of the Cossiers and so the fiestas of Sant Jaume and Sant Honorat. If you go to the town's tourism website - www.visitalgaida.com - you will discover a fairly decent effort at promotion, included in which are the fiestas, the Cossiers and indeed the Algaida fair.

The point about Algaida is that it is a typical inland village which is easy to overlook. The same can be said for several other villages (or towns, if you prefer). Take Vilafranca de Bonany or Sant Joan for instance. They are quite near to Algaida, but both suffer as they are off the main Palma-Manacor road. It might also be said that they suffer because neither has immediately obvious tourism interest. Except of course that they do, and one interest is that of fiestas and fairs. Vilafranca, adhering to the command for a tourism strategic plan, wants to push its melon fair in early September. Sant Joan, by its very name, has an obvious association with the fiestas of Sant Joan - John the Baptist - in June and August (one for his birth, one for his death). Neither town has gone as far as Algaida has in promoting fiestas, but both have an appreciation of the potential tourism benefit.

The title of this article asks who the fiestas are for. Fundamentally, they are for the local people. There has, though, been some disquiet expressed at the possibility of village fiestas being the target for tourists. But in one way or another, they always have been. It would be most unlikely, even with stronger promotion, that the village fiestas would ever be flooded with tourists, as it would need excursions' operators to do so, and they, with the odd exception, don't bother. To suggest, however, that these village fiestas are not for tourists would be wrong. The tourism value was recognised over a hundred years ago, it was understood by the Franco regime, and it has now, strategically, also been recognised.