Franco, against the giants of the Islands

PalmToday, giants are the protagonists of many civic celebrations. Their origin, however, was religious, within the context of Corpus Christi. The most important ancient feast of Christendom was instituted in Europe in the 13th century. It was set on the calendar 60 days after Easter Sunday to venerate 'the body of Christ,' personified in the consecrated host. Initially, it took place inside churches, but from the 14th century onward, it moved into the streets in the form of a procession. Attention then turned to men in costumes and on stilts who recreated episodes from sacred history with the aim of making it known to the illiterate population. Very soon, those actors became giants. The first one in the West dates from 1424 and was built in Barcelona. It was a replica of Goliath, the Philistine giant whom David, the future king of Israel, captured with a powerful slingshot. It already had the characteristic rigid shell that encases the man wearing it. In the Balearic Islands, the appearance of enormous anthropomorphic figures occurred two centuries later. The first is documented in Sóller in 1630 and the second in Sineu in 1653, the latter already integrated into a local festival, that of Sant Roc. The first Mallorcan giant whose name we know, Puput, dates from 1762 and is from Sant Llorenç. And in Menorca, the oldest giants are those of Maó. They arrived rented in 1934 from Barcelona to liven up the festivities of the Virgen de Gracia – the City Council would eventually buy the figures, which would not be given names (Tomeu and Guida) until 1992. In the Pitiusas Islands, however, the giant tradition was entirely nonexistent.

Emancipation of the Church

The Llucmajorer researcher Pau Tomàs i Ramis is the author of the book The giants of Mallorca (El Gallo Editor, 2010). "The people," he says, "eagerly awaited the Corpus Christi procession to enjoy and interact with a group of characters who momentarily transported them to a world full of fantasy. From the 16th century onwards, ecclesiastical authorities prohibited them, considering that they had become a source of scorn and ridicule for the festival, in celebrations of a civil nature."

Upon emancipating themselves from the Church, the giants came to represent important figures from the collective imagination, such as heroes or knights. "Following the model of the biblical Goliath," the researcher points out, "they maintained a structure of up to three meters in height so that their presence at the festival would be more majestic. Over time, they would be accompanied by the smaller 'cabezudos' (big-headed figures)." Initially, the giants were only male figures. "Female ones were introduced later. These were, however, giants who, unlike their male counterparts, dressed according to the fashions of each era. They acted much like the giants of today." influencers"...since the girls from good families were very attentive to the clothes and hairstyles they wore."

Doubly punished

The appearance of the giants during the festivities was eagerly anticipated, especially by children, who were amazed by such colossal figures. In 1904, the Palma City Council acquired its own, the peasant giants Tòfol and Francinaina. In 1936, the pair were part of an expedition of nearly 600 Mallorcans who set sail on July 18th to participate in the People's Olympiad in Barcelona, ​​the anti-fascist alternative to the Olympic Games scheduled for August in Hitler's Nazi Germany. The event was intended to be not only a sporting competition but also a celebration of folklore. However, the military uprising shattered the Olympic dream. "Amid the confusion and panic," Tomàs notes, "the two giants of Palma were lost, like many festive figures from other places. Furthermore, during the Civil War, in cities under Republican control, figures alluding to saints or religious figures were burned or destroyed."

Once the war ended, a new wave of repression ensued. "The Falangists sacrificed numerous giants, especially in the Catalan region, to display Catalanist emblems or represent heroes who could exalt the Catalan spirit. Others simply had their names and personalities changed to reflect the changing times. Many were made to personify the Catholic Monarchs." In line with Franco's policy of cultural genocide, other expressions of Balearic identity were also banned, such as The Balanguera and the dance of the Cossiers. Despite this hostile climate, in the 1940s, the Palma City Council commissioned another pair of peasant giants, who fought just like the previous ones that had disappeared. But a strong gust of wind blew them away and rendered them unusable. In 1961, the City Council ordered the construction of others with the same names.

The smear campaign suffered by the giants during the Franco regime eventually took hold among the population. "People," says Tomàs, "saw them as provincial elements that had become outdated. A good example is what happened in the early 1970s in Llucmajor, a municipality with a strong giant tradition. In August, since the City Council couldn't find anyone willing to carry the figures in the Santa Cà festivities, they went to the town to hire themselves out as almond eaters."

Recovery

The restoration of democracy marked the beginning of a process of dignifying cultural heritage. The giant figures movement in the Balearic Islands then regained its lost prestige, particularly in Catalonia. In 1982, in Barcelona, ​​during the opening ceremony of the World Cup held in Spain, a series of pairs of giants paraded through the streets, a sight that would later become world-renowned. That same year, Matadepera also hosted the First International Meeting of Giants. This event coincided with the First Congress of Traditional and Popular Catalan Culture, which laid the groundwork for rescuing popular festivals from oblivion.

So, many cultural associations opted to create the most emblematic figures of each town. The largest group would be led by pairs of peasants. The oldest was that of Inca, from 1928 (Abdó and María), which in 1987 served as the model for that of Sa Pobla (Antoni and Margalida); in 1989, for those of Alcúdia (Rampell and Pipella), Llucmajor (Miquel and Cándida), and Sant Llorenç (Jaume Belluguins and Angelina Trevolina); and in 1996 for that of Sóller (Antoni and Catalina). In 1999, Palma commissioned a new processional pair (Tomeu and Margalida) to accompany the giant xeremiers (traditional Mallorcan musicians). In 2002, Selva also had its own pair (Pau and Rosa).

The second group of giants includes figures inspired by characters from fables, sayings, and legends: in Llucmajor, Pere Taleca and Morgana the Fairy (1970) and the owner of Sona Moixa and Joanota (1971); in Montuïri, Queen Catalineta (1994); in Alaró, Tomassa (1995); and in Puigpunyent, the Bou and Fàtima (2002). The third group consists of representatives of traditional trades from each town: in Inca, the shoemakers (1994); in Capdepera, Roc, the fisherman, and Esperanza, the tinsmith (2003); in Sineu, Marc, the blacksmith, and Maria dels Àngels, the fig harvester (2005); and in Mancor del Valle, Juan, the charcoal burner, and Lucía, the embroiderer (2005). The fourth group consists of historical figures: in Llucmajor, Barbarossa (1970); in Sencelles, Blessed Francinaina (2018); in Calvià, King James I and Violante of Hungary (1999); in Alaró, Cabrit and Bassa (2000); and on the Island Council of Mallorca, King James II and Esclaramonda of Foix (2001) and Kings Sancho I and James III (2002). Ibiza wouldn't have its first giants until 2025, Xicu and Jordi, the well-known guardians of the salt of Sant Josep de sa Talaia.

That trend led to the creation of groups of giants – each giant requires at least three people: the bearer and two helpers. In Mallorca, there are about twenty, and in Menorca, six—the one in Llucmaçanes (Maó), created in 1990, is the oldest in the entire archipelago. In Mallorca, the first giant gathering took place in 2000 in Manacor. "It's not," concludes Tomàs, "a simple parade that ends with lunch or dinner. The gatherings begin with the unveiling of the figures to introduce them to the attendees. The look of surprise on the faces of the youngest children when they see them is priceless." Today, besides the Balearic Islands and Catalonia, other regions with a strong devotion to giant figures are the Basque Country, Navarre, and Castile and León.