What is Much? The festival told for people who aren't from Sineu

SinedLa Mucada, in honor of the Much de Reig, is an invented festival, like all others, with its symbolic elements, icons, and rituals, added year after year. What is certainly new is that this festival, known to thousands of Mallorcans, was born in 2004 and has become the paradigm of what is called "neo-parties" or "newly created festivals" within the current panorama of popular Mallorcan festivals.

The reason for its inception may have been more elegant, but it was simply the desire of a group of young people to fill a summer afternoon, the day before their town's main festival, with some activity that would justify lunch together and a drink together before getting ready to go and get ready. In short, they wanted that meal and alcoholic excursion to go beyond just eating and drinking.

Every August 14th in Sineu, for the past five or six years, young people would agree to eat together on that Saturday of the Virgin of August. The annual event, which brought together men between the ages of eighteen and thirty in a town restaurant, was known as the Brotherhood Meal. After lunch, the route could change between having a drink in the bars of the Plaza del Fossar, especially in Can Castell, or even visiting the surrounding villages, such as Llubí and Pina, which many peaks caused some arguments about leaving the village while it was in full festival.

The Sineu Town Hall's festival program for August 14th, ever since current generations of Sineuers can remember, indicated that there would be a parade by a group of xeremiers (xeremiers) that afternoon. Therefore, the tradition acquired by the group of young people at the Brotherhood Meal did not include any participatory activity that afternoon, the eve of the Virgin's Day. This, along with the feeling that the town didn't offer many traditional events in the context of its popular festivals, were decisive factors in the decision of three young people, Toni Florit (Sineu, 1983), Pere Joan Oliver (Sineu, 1980), and Marc Niell (Sineu, 1982), to create fables related to the town.

A legendary origin

One of the most famous fables set in the municipality of Sineu is the fable of Mount Reig. Its fame is probably due to the fact that it was recorded by Antoni M. Alcover in hisPilgrimage of Mallorcan fablesThis must be the most popular and well-known version, and it was the one used by the three young Sineuers to explain the small scavenger hunt they would propose to their fellow "brothers" at the dinner table. However, we would like to record the version passed on to us orally by Maria Frau Munar.Ribes(Sineu, 1926-2004), who, on unforgettable days of games and storytelling, we remember told it like this: "They say that inside Mount Reig there is a treasure. Whoever wants to find it must go at midnight and walk around the mountain seven times with their mouth full of oil. If they don't send a single drop, an ox will appear that, having escaped, will head for a cave that is there as they climb up the mountain. They must pass through claws. Once past that narrow passage, they will reach the treasure and it will be theirs."

The enigmatic figure of the guide bull was therefore chosen with the simple purpose of providing their small party with a unifying element. A totem around which to keep the tribe of the brothers united from noon until dusk. Once they had decided on the character, all that remained was to create his image and generate the plot through which the beast would present himself to his companions. The homemade image of the bull was created by imitating the cardboard or paper-paste big heads (more recently, made of synthetic materials) that, in the form of a devil or a popular character, are very well-known on the island. Although the materials for the first bull were not chosen correctly—plaster and paper on a grid structure—the success of both the subject and the bearer, Toni Florit, had the necessary impact for the group's enthusiastic support of the proposal. Thus, the first year, the brothers met at the foot of Mount Reig, where they distributed printed T-shirts with iconic images of the brotherhood meals and the fable printed on the back. One lap was read aloud to those present, and everyone willingly filled their mouths with a generous mouthful of sweet herbs when, suddenly, a firecracker roared from end to end of the path, and for the first time, the Picasso-esque image of the past appeared, head on the body of Toni Florit.

Lo Much de Reig, name and physiognomy

In the year the festival was born, the main character was simply a fabled beast, with no other name than the "bou del puig de Reig." None of the surviving versions of the fable gave the bull much more prominence than that of being under the spell of the mountain and tasked with guiding the hero—who manages the feat of walking around the mountain with his mouth full of oil—to the treasure. Once this character had been removed from the plot, he became the protagonist of the new story, and perhaps referring to him in a generic way was not very identifying or practical—we won't go into the reasons—but the fact is that on the very day of the premiere, a referendum was improvised among those present at the Sabina bar about what there was and what there was. The most popular names were "Muc" and "Reig." In view of the numerous and equal supports that the two new tauronyms received, the decision was made to integrate both in the form of name and lineage, with a variation, which if we may be immodest, we attribute to ourselves, which was to use the pre-Fabrian spelling, as a linguistic play, in order to give the character a false name - and, above all, -. The name "Lo Much de Reig" was approved by consent.

Right there, providence and the custom of going for coffee at midday made the versatile sineuer Miquel Tugores present.Monara(Sineu, 1952), a xeremier, maker of tambourines and traditional percussion instruments, maker of devil masks, teresitas, toys made from recycled objects... It wasn't long in coming, given the short-lived existence of the plaster ox head, which was about to disintegrate the following year. Tugores received the order with enthusiasm, so much so that he has become a favorite figure, as well as creator, organizer, and one of the main souls of the festival.

On St. Christopher's Day – a holiday still celebrated in the town not so many years ago – in 2005, the new image of Lo Much de Reig was presented to the public, and an agreement was made, along with the legendary beast, to welcome it annually every August 14th.

The Wonders, the Muca and the opening of the town festival

While the nation of the festival can be considered absolutely linked to the Brotherhood Meal and, therefore, although it is held in public spaces, it does not include participants from outside the initial group, there is one fact that we believe determines its openness and popularity: the entry of women. In 2005, under the motto of the Meal of Wonders, a good handful of Sineuera girls gathered just as the men had done on the same Saturday of the Virgin of August and, for the first time, participated in the festival around the Much. The following year, the interest and insistence, especially of Magdalena Genovart, increased.Relook (Sineu, 1987) to add a Muca as Much's partner, they had Miquel Tugores create a new mask following the comic style he had captured in the bull's mask. With the Muca, the new group, made up of women of a similar age to the young brothers, would fully enter the fray, some of whom would also join the organizing team. The entry of women into this endogamous revelry of the brothers opens the festival to the town, as both groups incorporate more and more participants and expectations begin to build among people outside the two pioneering groups.

A day of celebration

The Mucada festival takes place during the day. This is one of the keys, in our opinion, that explains much of what lies behind the magic formula for success. In Sineu, until then, nighttime had dominated youth leisure for years. Fellowship lunches had been an innovation in this field. The laws governing nighttime recreational outings took on a different meaning when going out during the day.

Starting in the second year—August 2005—a much-needed group of organizers gathered around the original twin of the festival's creators, with the desire to give substance and some sense to the joyful reception of Lo Much de Reig. (Since 2011, this group has called itself the Muchal Foundation.) The group is open and several meetings are convened to brainstorm. Basically, this first attempt at organizing the event defined three key moments: the bull invocation ritual, the arrival in the village, and the reception in the Plaza del Fossar. The addition and subtraction of elements, as many as appropriate, have shaped the current program, which consists of the following events:

The Pilgrimage

Mount Reig is about three kilometers from the town of Sineu. Somehow, the followers of the Much had to travel to the place where, at New Year's Eve, legend says, the beast hides. While it's true that in the early years, transportation was at individual expense, the fact that the Sant Joan railway station was located within the municipality of Sineu, right at the same height as the mount itself, was soon exploited. Train travel was common—the start of the Mucada was synchronized with the service schedule—until the rural station was closed in 2012. Since 2008, departures to the mountain have been encouraged by vehicles "of all kinds and styles," on the condition that they arrive "with the corresponding adornment as a sign of celebration and jewelry."

The invocation

Gathered all the earliest mucaires just where the mountain begins to climb, they sing the Joys at Much de Reig either Hymn of the Mucada. According to the fable, the bull should have been invoked by running three (or seven, depending on the version) laps around the mountain with his mouth full of oil. This would not have been practical. With various trials and variations over the years, the current invocation is the result of the confluence of two fables that have Mount Reig as their setting. One is the well-told legend of the hidden treasure, and the other tells of a tug-of-war between the Moors and the Christians, the former pulling from the top of Mount San Nofre and the latter from the summit of Mount Reig. Currently, the Much de Reig is invoked with a tug-of-war between two groups—the Moors and the Christians—with their mouths full of oil. The winner is not the side that knocks down the other, but the one with the most participants who can hold the oil in their mouths at the end of the battle. From the winning group, a handful of volunteers are entitled to undergo a physical test, usually related to lung power, such as throwing quail eggs with the mouth, the winner of which will be the one who blows the horn that announces the end of the ritual and the departure of Lo Much de Reig from his mistress.

The proclamation

In the image and likeness of any patron saint's festival, the "festival made of festivals" was bound to have its opening speech and its town crier. The town criers, mocked or invented characters, have been of all categories and themes—a fallera from Jativín, the soup goat, the sibyl, or Joana Menos (an antagonist to Joan Mas from the festivities of the Patron Saint of Pollença). Memorable have been the opening speeches composed by the Sineuer Rafel Amorós (Sineu, 1980), who, with his language and caustic humor, has marked part of the identity of this festival. The opening speech is given from one of the windows of the Town Hall. The characteristic small square that opens in front of the building is filled with young people every year. The euphoria is absolute. The festival reaches one of its stellar moments. The wait for the opening speech is harmonized with music from the loudspeakers, through which theAll you need is love of the Beatles – the expression is often usedAll you need is MuchThe square vibrates. The town crier appears, delivers the proclamation, and then the Much de Reig arrives. Nowadays, he is preceded by the Tabaler del Much (inspired by the Tabaler de la Patum) and accompanied by a group of former muques and mucas. Much must signal the start of the festival. With the musical accompaniment of the legendary Barcelona of Freddy Mercury and Montserrat Caballé, launches an arrow (a reminder of the one that lit the cauldron at the 1992 Olympics) and flies across the square to a Daffy Duck on a hang-glider that will crash into a balloon – this is the interpretation of the Baixada del Corb festival, celebrated by the one that closes the "institutional" event.

The Encerbol

A square in front of a town hall full of people celebrating a festival, at noon, reminds us of the image of the Town Hall Square in Pamplona on the day of thechupinazo. For this reason, since 2011, a confinement Pamplona-style, filtered through mucus. A stuffed animal with deer antlers is pushed in a stroller through the town's central streets, between the Town Hall and the church square, passing through Calle Mayor. The runners, dressed like those in the famous Sant Fermin and Ikurriñe festivals, are a colorful counterpoint to the dominant pink of the festival, and will continue through the evening events, breaking up the chromatic uniformity of the crowd with white, red, and green.

HeMeeting

After lunch, the homage to the bull Much resumes. On Easter Day, the procession of the Encounter of Jesus and Mary is traditional in the villages of Mallorca. From this liturgical act, well known to the sineuers, who popularly call it "I found myself", the version for Mucada was recreated, the one found between Much and his companion, Muca. The parody in the processions is intertwined with the parody of the elements of the figures of the most deep-rooted traditional festivals such as the cossiers, the little horses, the eagles, the cashiers of Menorca... accompany the Muca. With the same stage in which the Easter meeting is celebrated, in the Plaza del Fossar, the two characters advance surrounded by their entourage, with music of xeremías and the Band of Cornets and Drums made up of old members who, long ago, performed in the Holy Week processions, it is unleashed in all senses.

The Floral Games

This is the name given to the festive events, similar to traditional party games held in honor of the Much de Reig. It must be said that its name has no intention of becoming a literary competition; it is simply the result of the same game of using names with ancient and moth-eaten reminiscences, of great sumptuousness. One of the vestiges of the Brotherhood Meals prior to the appearance of the Much is thefusswith a mobylette that was—and is—done at the Can Castell bar. The Magic Mistol Tour figure skating competition was also born in the same bar, due to the fact that during the youngsters' stay at the café, the floor was soaked by the constant spilling of drink glasses, something that some took advantage of to do belly dives on a separate part of the bar. This improvised activity, little or not at all approved by the bar owners, led to the deployment of a soapy plastic sheet in the street, onto which the main characters of the musical procession and all the audience who were willing to participate do belly dives.

End of the party

At dusk, it's time to close the festival. During the Floral Games, a band called the Much-charanga (a band that plays around the square) and a disc jockey plays music, especially retro-inspired pieces, to liven up the festivities. The disc jockey, known as Peptronik, Pep Toni Feixas, had the habit of ending the nights of performance with the well-known New York, New York by Frank Sinatra. This inspired the closing party, in which, as this melody plays, hundreds of sparklers are lit, while Much and Muca bid farewell to the audience.