Mahón, Menorca (Festes de Gracia 2008)

Pyxis
Karen & Richard
Mon 8 Sep 2008 23:57

Monday 8th September – Mahón, Menorca (Festes de Gracia 2008)

39:53.543N 4:16.329E

 

Today the programme started at 8am.  There was slim chance of us meeting that particular challenge and so we decided to aim for the Jaleo (parading of the horses) at 12 noon.

 

We turned up a little late but luckily for us the morning mass for the riders at the Church of Santa Maria was over-running.  We joined a group of people at the back of the church and we were in time to see the end of the service and the riders parade out (on foot), carrying with them the statue of the Virgin Mary which was taken to a carriage and horses waiting outside for the procession.

 

We hadn’t been able to see inside this church when we first arrived in Mahón as it was closed.  It is famous for its impressive organ and there are daily organ recitals.  So rather than follow the procession we chose to enter the church and take a look around.  Due to the fiesta, everything was fairly casual and we were able to wander around and even to ascend the stairs to the balcony to see the wonderful organ at close quarters – we felt very lucky.

 

When we had finished our sight-seeing tour of the Church of Santa Maria we went round the corner to the main Town Hall square and entered into the spirit of the Jaleo.  Just like last night, the horses come into the square where all the people are gathered and the riders make them rear up and jump on their hind legs whilst some of the audience gather under the horses hooves and try to keep them up by supporting the hooves.  It went on all afternoon and we moved around to get different views of the horses. 

 

Today was the main day of the fiesta and there was a huge and boisterous crowd with the horses, which got larger and more boisterous during the day.  The horses were amazingly well-behaved considering that they had people running around them, touching them and getting under them and holding up their hooves; we didn’t see a single horse kick out with its back legs to rid itself of the nuisances.

 

Inevitably however, there were a few incidents where people right in the thick of the action were injured – mainly crowd issues where people knocked into each other or were jostled rather than from the horses.  We were impressed by the professional way it was dealt with though.  I had seen a couple of officials around watching but they were totally unobtrusive; however, as soon as there was a problem, one of them held a flag in the air at the spot, the music stopped, everyone else stood still, including the horses and riders, a stretcher was immediately whisked over to the casualty who was then swiftly removed to the first aid area just around the corner.  Then everything continued as before.

 

It was a long, hot day.  The dry sand in the square was kicked up by the horses and swept by the wind; everyone soon had a covering of sand but nobody seemed to worry.  To keep ourselves going during the afternoon we had traditional ‘pomada’, the local drink made of gin and lemon, the drink for the festival.

 

Late afternoon, we managed to get into a very prominent spot on the steps of the Town Hall which gave a great view of the proceedings.  We could see down over the crowd and watch the riders approach the presentation platform on their horses and receive a large green reed and a silver spoon in the tradition of the fiesta for taking part.

 

When the Caixer battle (the Mayor himself) and the Caixer capellà (priest, a real priest has to participate on horseback, too) had received their reeds they came and stood by the steps of the Town Hall.  All the other riders went around once again to parade past us, well, past the priest and Mayor really J, to close that part of the events.  As they came past, they each reared up just in front of us, before leaving the square. Marvellous stuff!

 

Having been concerned about the size of the spurs they were wearing, I was wondering if they were using these to make the horses rear up.  I was delighted and charmed to see as they came by us and reared up that the signal the riders gave to the horses was a verbal one and not a physical one at all.  A few of them gave a distinctive whistle but most of them made a sound like Skippy the bush kangaroo, for those of you old enough to remember…

 

After the horses had left, the riders returned by foot to the Town Hall for a traditional drink.  Outside though there is another tradition for the fiesta, for the crowd, the Volem vi (We want wine!).  The crowd gather in front of the Town Hall and then small flasks of wine are thrown for them to catch.  Some of the audience were very competitive.

 

This evening we made time for a quick dinner aboard, having not had time to eat all day, and then we went for a walk around the town where there were a number of different ‘live music’ acts on in the various squares.  There was flamenco, big band, Ecuadorian and a local pop star giving a concert.  There were also markets in two of the squares – one food and one crafts.

 

Then the evening was finished off with a firework display at midnight which we watched from the harbour wall along with everyone else.

 

When we saw where the fireworks were coming from, we realised that we would have had a fabulous, and even closer, view from Pyxis, and Richard was pleased that it was a fresh easterly wind or some of the debris could have landed on Pyxis.  When we got back to Pyxis, there was a small motor boat tied up onto her; the skipper had decided to tie up there to watch the fireworks.  A bit of a cheek, but no harm done!