Christianity and traditional celebrations
Most Spaniards are Catholics, at least by tradition if not by confession, and when it comes to religion, the Balearics behave in much the same way as their peninsular counterparts. Customs are changing, however, and church pews are increasingly empty, especially at Sunday mass. In fact, a good quarter of Spaniards declare themselves to be atheists, and opportunities to go to church are limited to celebrations such as weddings, funerals and christenings, which in many ways are more social than religious gatherings. However, Catholicism continues to play a decisive role in the running of the year. Indeed, in addition to the many religious holidays that punctuate the calendar, the Cavalcada dels Reis d'Orient (Feast of the Kings, early January) and the Setmana Santa (Easter week) are moments of genuine religious fervor. Palma's Easter processions are particularly impressive! The archipelago's towns and villages also celebrate their patron saint festivals with great pomp and ceremony every year: these are important occasions when young and old alike gather in the public space to pay homage to their local patron saint in a spirit of good-natured festivity.
For example, Sant Sebastià is celebrated by lighting braziers in all four corners of Palma on January 20; the Virgin del Carme, protector of fishermen, is celebrated in all Balearic ports on July 16, and even at sea; Formentera praises Sant Jaume, protector of the island, on July 25; the town of Eivissa goes into hysterics on August 5 to celebrate Santa Maria de la Nieves, patron saint of the town, and again three days later around the figure of San Ciriaco, patron saint of the island; on September 9, Mare de Déu de la Gràcia is honored in Maó (Menorca) with incredible equestrian shows. Alongside these religious celebrations are more ancient pagan festivals, later incorporated into Catholicism, such as Sa Pobla (Mallorca), where a central figure in Mallorcan folklore appears in the village streets on Sant Antoni Day (January 16): el dimoni, a mischievous devil who hunts down the most timid, dancing and drinking in a spirit of pranksterism (not to be confused with correfocs, imps equipped with pyrotechnic devices, who didn't appear until the 20th century). The Nit de Sant Joan, on June 24, is another major pagan festival, celebrating the arrival of summer. With the arrival of many foreign nationals, other religions, such as Islam and Protestantism, are also practiced on the islands, although they are in the minority and have their own places of worship. Jehovah's Witnesses, Baha'is and the Mormon Church are also present.
Pre-Christian cultures
But before the arrival of Christianity, the Balearic Islands were inhabited by various civilizations with their own belief systems, which have left behind a few vestiges: necropolises with thousands of burials dating back to the Phoenician-Archaic period (7th century BC), such as Puig des Molins (Ibiza) or Punta dels Fenicis (Mallorca)C.), such as Puig des Molins (Ibiza) or Punta dels Fenicis (Mallorca), from which archaeologists have been able to extract various objects linked to funerary rites, as well as the mysterious megalithic monuments dating from the Talayotic era (2nd century BC) that dot Menorca's territory and whose meaning is still unknown.
As for the amulets found in Punic tombs (Carthaginian civilization), carved bone pieces or necklaces of pearls and bronze bells with a clearly Egyptian typology, most of which were found in children's tombs, the most likely hypothesis is that they were fetishes designed to protect the youngest, and therefore the weakest, from disease. The figure of Tanit, goddess of Ibiza, also dates back to Punic times. Her cult, which lasted for several centuries on the island, required human sacrifice. Diodorus of Sicily mentions child sacrifices (urns containing children's bones, mixed with animal bones, have been found). Ibiza was also once referred to as a center of pleasure or sacred prostitution, dedicated to the cult of Tanit: this was twenty-five centuries ago, if we are to believe the terracotta figurines of a sexual nature. All this, however, remains highly uncertain.
In Menorca, the legacy of the ancients takes the form of a breathtaking collection of megalithic constructions, probably erected over 2,000 years ago. Although there are more than 1,600 of them on the island, the role played by these navetes - piles of stones built without cement or mortar - remains a mystery to historians and archaeologists. Human bones discovered in the burial chamber of the Naveta d'Es Tudons (the largest and best preserved on the island, located in the western part of Menorca, a few kilometers from Ciutadella), but also in other parts of the island, suggest that they were funerary monuments. But the buildings most resistant to any interpretation remain the taules, colossal structures made of a vertical pillar topped by a huge stone set horizontally in a "T" shape, found only in Menorca (around thirty in all). Are they the pedestals of ancient consecrated sacrificial sites, or the remains of the foundations of more imposing constructions? No definitive explanation has yet been put forward. Such is the quantity and good conservation of these monuments that, in 2019, the island applied for the UNESCO label as Menorca Talaiòtica. The official distinction will be awarded in 2023.
Some legends of Ibiza
The legend of the fameliars. According to the legend, there are particularly ugly little creatures in Santa Eulària with an absolutely amazing work force: the fameliars. To capture one, you have to go under the Old Bridge of Santa Eulària, equipped with a black bottle into which you have poured a little holy water, and then pick a glittering flower that only appears in this place on the night before the feast of St. John, to introduce it into the container. Some time later, a fameliar is born there. The owner can release it at will, making sure that he can satisfy the ferocious appetite of this little being that has become his servant, that is to say, provide him with colossal quantities of work or food. For as soon as the fameliar is out of the bottle, it demands " Feina o menjar! " (" work or food! ") and only calms down once one of its two requests is met. If the fameliar 's master is unable to provide him with enough food to satisfy his appetite or enough work to satisfy his strength, the fameliar will devour the entire pantry. The only solution to avoid such a calamity would be to ask the little being to accomplish an impossible task... Along the river of Santa Eulària winds a small path along which we can cross some fameliars... statues!
Es Vedrà and its legends. The southwestern region of Ibiza has always been rich in myths and legends: the goddess Tanit was worshipped there, the mermaids of the sunken city of Atlantis were sought, but also, with the arrival of the new wave, UFOs in the depths of the sea. If science tends to refute all these hypotheses, the experience of a somewhat non-conformist monk of the Carmelite order on the islet of Es Vedrà in 1864 is quite historical. Francisco Palau (1811-1872), who had become an embarrassment to the Church because of his unconventional ideas, was sent to Ibiza in 1854 by the ecclesiastical authorities, where he set up a hermitage in a cave on the side of Es Cubells. At the beginning of 1864, he decided to get involved again in the life of the city, with the aim of exorcising the impious peasants of the island. Soon, tired of preaching to the people, and with the help of a fisherman friend, he withdrew to a cave in Es Vedrà, devoting himself fully to meditation. It was then that a series of intense nocturnal revelations came to him, which he later compiled in a collection that combined the theme of ecstatic self-transformation with symbolism linked to gardening, an activity held in high esteem by the island's inhabitants. Francisco Palau became an important figure on the island and his first hermitage in Es Cubells became an important place of pilgrimage. The monk was beatified in 1988.
The Buddha of Atlantis. A hundred meters above the natural pools of the place called Atlantis, partially hidden behind juniper branches, we find one of the hidden treasures of Ibiza: a huge circular painting printed on the rock representing a Buddha. Rumor has it that it was done by a Vietnam veteran of Japanese origin, judging by the date that accompanies the drawing, 1979, written in Japanese ideograms. It is actually a Bodhisattva of compassion with multiple arms that became a symbol of the island in the 1980s. In 2011, however, the work was vandalized with spray paint, which admirers of the Buddha have subsequently meticulously reproduced. Today, the place is still a sanctuary for those who seek peace and it is not uncommon to come across apprentices meditating in the lotus position. Nevertheless, the mystery remains around the author of the Buddha of Atlantis. All that is known is that his name was Mabo and that he had something to do with the island of Kyushu.
