At the "Sa Fira" & "Es Firo" in Sóller, Mallorca only knows black and white. The town festival has been celebrating the victory of the Christians over the Moors since 1561. Here you can find the programme for 2024!
If you want to really let it rip on Mallorca, you should go to the town festival in Sóller on the second weekend in May. Here, the victory of the Mallorcan Christians over the Moors on 11 May 1561 is celebrated with Sa Fira - a big Fiesta - and a total renunciation of political correctness. Weeks in advance, either the crescent or the cross adorn rock faces, houses, lighthouses and cars - the whole town is in celebration fever.
No wonder: the "Firo de Sóller" lasts 11 days, so you really have to be in the best party mood.
Normally, Sóller is a rather tranquil town in Mallorca in the mountains of the Tramuntana, but on that second weekend in May with Sa Fira, the peace is over. One half of the population paints itself black with shoe polish, throws on Arabic-looking clothes, puts turbans on their heads and revives the battle between Moors and Christians on the beach. The "white" half of the population does not let itself be left behind on this occasion either: lovingly home-made traditional costumes are proudly worn by young and old. Whether for the laying of flowers in the cathedral or for the wild fight on the beach.
The main event this year will take place from 9-13 May.
9.5 Thursday:
20:00 at Sant Bartomeu Cathedral - The "Valentes Dones" (the brave sisters who successfully repelled a pirate attack on their home) will be celebrated.
10.5 Friday
Party in Sóller in the evening. With concerts, restaurants, stalls etc ...
11.5 Saturday:
Morning: Handcraft/Art market
From 17:00 on the Plaça - locals in traditional costumes lay flowers in front of the statue of the 'Mare de Déu de la Victòria' (Our Lady of Victory).
Party in Sóller in the evening. With concerts, restaurants, stalls etc ...
12.5 Sunday "Sa Fira"
Fair in Sóller with market stalls, farm animals and hundreds of people in traditional Mallorcan dress.
9 - 14h The programme includes Equestrian spectacle
at the Carrer de Cetre car park - that's behind the bus stop. I've never been there, but it sounds great.
Party in Sóller in the evening. With concerts, restaurants, stalls etc ...
13.5 Monday: The grand finale - "Es Firó".
the battle on the beach of Puerto Soller - as far as my Malllorquin goes here, it starts at 17:00 in the afternoon on the beach.
Click on the first picture to start the photo gallery:
The wild fiesta doesn't only have friends, however, because half the island travels to Sóller to celebrate these days. The town is trying to keep booze tourism in check through strict alcohol controls at the exits of the town and will again this year limit the number of people allowed into the town square.
Juan Rodrigez, an elderly Mallorcan gentleman, brushes my concerns aside:
"Of course it's loud and wild, it's always been like that. What do you think it was like in 1561 ... and if it gets too wild for you, then you just go to the hotel".
Wise words from a man - albeit half-deaf - and so I plunge into the wild fray.
The highlight of the festivities takes place on Monday afternoon - the staged invasion. From personal experience, I can recommend wearing old clothes and earplugs - it's guaranteed to be noisy. I would also leave my favourite straw hat in my suitcase on this day. Because the Moor, painted black with shoe polish, not only likes to leave his fingerprints on - preferably female - clothing. He also likes to steal - preferably male - straw hats, throw them in the air and shoot them to pieces!
The Moors land with ships on the beach of "Repic", where they are welcomed by the "christian" population with a huge cloud of smoke. The moors are defeated and so the whole crowd - by this time already visibly inebriated - marches 4km up to the town.
This march does not usually serve as a sobering-up exercise, because both sides are not only armed, they have also secured their survival with plenty of drinking bottles ... Halfway up, the brave women of Soller intervene in the action and drive the Moors into flight for the time being. The final battle takes place in front of Sant Bartomeu Cathedral: Fireworks, gunshots, large crowds pushing here and there, and then the Mallorcans have finally won. Moors and Christians sit down in their favourite bars, lick their wounds and are already thinking about next year's schedule.
So if you're ready to throw all the "Health & Safety" regulations overboard for a day, love crowds, booze and noise, you can have a blast this weekend in Mallorca.
If you want to get away without tinnitus and alcohol poisoning, you're sure to find something at the other events taking place throughout the week.