Someone in the Sant Antoni de Portmany City Council had an idea: what if we painted the main street of the West End in bright colors? The idea was to combat drunken tourism with art – the West is an area known mainly for its bars – or, in the words of the Portmany mayor, Marcos Serra: “An integral reconstruction project for this entire area, to make the leap in tourist quality that we have always sought.” And so it was done. The artist in charge was Okuda San Miguel, a Cantabrian painter of international fame, a versatile author – responsible, among other things, for the controversial transformation of the Ajo lighthouse, the 2018 Valencia City Council falla, and the interior of the International Church of Cannabis, in Denver. On May 21, 2025, Okuda's work in Sant Antoni was presented to society: the ground of Santa Agnès street completely painted with colorful geometric shapes, plus a square where Okuda's main emblem stands, the so-called Star of Chaos. In total, 371,000 euros, with a contribution of 220,000 euros from European funds.

The traditional satirical and festive commentary will once again take center stage at the third Ximbombada, organized by the residents of Berard Square every first Friday of February. This year, the event will be held this Friday, starting at 7:30 p.m., in the same square, in the heart of the Torre neighborhood of Manacor. Despite never being part of the official San Antonio festival program in Manacor, the Torre Ximbombada has, in just two previous editions, become one of the key events that conclude Manacor's celebrations dedicated to fire and toast.

Saint Anthony is the patron saint of animals and, by extension, of farmers. Muro is the town that most proudly celebrates this status of the bearded saint on his feast day (January 17). They do so with elaborate and well-attended blessings, which are the culmination of the great winter festival of the Part Forana region, celebrated with traditional songs, tambourines, and bonfires. Now, the Consell de Mallorca (Island Council of Mallorca) has declared these celebrations an Intangible Cultural Heritage Asset (BIC). Their history can be followed in the book recently published by researcher Damià Payeras Capó, entitled Saint Anthony, popular devotion and festival in Muro. "There is documentary evidence," he says, "that these celebrations have been held in the municipality since the 18th century, although they are surely older. It was the time when all the farmers adorned their altars and took them to be blessed to ensure that they would be protected throughout the year."

"What's certain is that there won't be any exams on Saint Sebastian's Day..." Joan Llull Febrer is a young man from Manacor studying Agricultural Engineering at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). As a sign of protest (and also to celebrate), he dressed up as Saint Anthony this morning to take a third-year exam. It's not the first year that Juan has had an exam scheduled for January 16th, thus missing a good part of his town's festivities.

Saint Anthony's Day unites faith and enthusiasm. Social class, economic status, and even age. The quintessential festival for those from outside the city needs no explanation. Aware of all its virtues, the celebration in Manacor has once again displayed the perfect blend of artistry in its critique and empathy for tragedy.

The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) forecasts cloudy and overcast skies for this Monday with rain that may occasionally be heavy and accompanied by thunderstorms, and, from the afternoon onwards, persistent mainly in the Pitiusas Islands, northeast of Mallorca and the Tramuntana mountain range.

To speak of El Porrón bar in Manacor (opened in 1960) is to speak of a true local institution. It was a pioneering café in the creation of the city's first bonfires, in the mid-60s, and with figures in 1968, with a clear Valencian influence imported during the early years of tourism. Although, to tell the whole truth, El Porrón was a parade bar, one of the first establishments outside the town center, near the private hospital that operated until the end of the 70s and is now a nursing home.

Artà was buzzing again this Friday with the first dance of the devil, the most anticipated moment that symbolically marks the beginning of Sant Antoni in the town. To the beat of a reed, the brass band played the familiar tune.Tatachín And, with the first notes, the two demons burst into the square amidst shouts, applause, and a pent-up anticipation that had been building for hours.

Saint Anthony, patron saint of animals, arrives in the Balearic Islands every year with bonfires, demons, verses, and traditions that have survived for centuries. But what do we really know about this celebration? What is the story behind the saint and the rituals that accompany him?

Menorca commemorates the 739th anniversary of the Reconquista of the island this Saturday at noon. The celebrations will take place under the threat of persistent rain in the old town of Ciutadella, where the Procession of the Three Touches will be held, recalling the triumphant entry of Alfonso III's troops on January 17, 1287. The youngest councilor in the municipal corporation, Núria Pons, will lead the procession this year, wearing a Greek TAU symbol, in the Plaça de les Palmeres (Palm Tree Square), where the old Maó Gate of the city walls once stood. Thousands of people will follow the event, the same crowd that will later visit the more than twenty stalls at the fair set up along the Contramurada (the city's outer walls). It will be the first Saint Anthony's Day celebration without the traditional pig raffle at Ciutadella's orange and date market. The fine imposed on the City Council last year following a complaint from the PACMA party and in compliance with the Animal Welfare Law has forced a change to this tradition. No black pigs will be on display this year; instead, a pig festival will be held, and the proceeds will be raffled off, again to benefit the Hospital Board and the Association of Relatives of the Municipal Nursing Home. Even so, the Maó Animal Shelter has distanced itself from the celebration, stating that the animal blessings "have turned into a livestock fair."

In the mid-1980s, the Sant Antoni festival in Manacor was going through a period of uncertainty. The tradition was seen as a ritual deeply rooted in the peasantry but, at the same time, distant from the youth, who didn't find the connection they have now, 40 years later. The group of devils visited every school, every playground in the town, in search of new members for a shared future, in order to ensure a generational handover that was proving difficult.

The virtues of a festival are measured by the character it manages to instill in those who experience it, whether from within or as spectators. The Sant Antoni festival in Manacor, which has evolved and become increasingly crowded over the last 20 years, struggles to find a balance that allows it to continue its traditions without losing too much of its essence along the way.

Crespí, Soler, García, Socias, Martínez, and Gelabert are the surnames of the six young men who will play the role of devils for the Sant Antoni festivities in Sa Pobla in 2027. Their public selection is one of the events that kick off this year's celebrations and is the result of a raffle that attracted around eighty candidates. Most of the lucky winners have lineages linked to the municipality of Sa Pobla since ancient times; others, a smaller number, are of Castilian origin. But do the surnames of these six young men reflect the reality of Sa Pobla's social composition, which, as throughout the Balearic Islands, is increasingly diverse in terms of origins? Considering that the first Moroccans arrived in the first half of the 1980s, has no devil yet been chosen who is of Hamdaoui or Saidi lineage?

To mark the San Antonio and San Sebastián festivities, Mallorca Railway Services (SFM) has announced an extensive schedule of night trains and additional services to facilitate travel by public transport during these celebrations, which will last until January 20. The measure aims to reduce pressure on the roads and promote more sustainable mobility during the holidays.

Nordin, a 24-year-old Moroccan, arrived in Sa Pobla almost three months before Sant Antoni in 2007. On January 16th, he wasn't yet in school, and his parents told him not to go out too much because he didn't know anyone in town. However, for the Sant Antoni festival, he went to the main square and saw "caparrots, devils, and a huge crowd," he recalls. The following year, he was already playing at stealing the devils' brooms and running off without fear. Since then, he has felt part of the festival and celebrates it year after year.

The Consell de Mallorca has begun the process of declaring the Benditas de San Antonio de Muro (Blessed Virgins of San Antonio de Muro) an Intangible Cultural Heritage Asset (BICIM), in recognition of their historical, cultural, social, and identity value, and their deep roots in the Muro community and the island's cultural heritage. The declaration must be definitively ratified by the Plenary Session of the island institution.

Serge Bloch's illustrations parade one after another in a slow downward scroll on the large screen that Mònica Cuenca uses to explain the concept of the workshop she leads. One of the artists from the Mention Art Workshop raises her hand and asks to be shown one of the images for a closer look. It is a work that combines the collage With thick, spontaneous lines, characteristic of Bloch, the resulting image is a potato, with drawn horns and wings, eating a magazine logo. Then, at the workshop leader's request, Mònica focuses on a ceramic plate that winks at the viewer.

The bonfires are burning brighter than ever in the villages of Pla de Mallorca. While not reaching the intensity or centrality of the festival in towns like Sa Pobla, Muro, Pollença, Artà, Manacor, and throughout the Levante region of Mallorca, Sant Antoni has been recovering and reinterpreting itself in places where, for decades, it had been almost exclusively relegated to the religious sphere or to the blessed figures. All it took was blowing out the embers that had remained smoldering like a hanging fire.

Happy in power. The main week of the Sant Antoni festivities has returned to Manacor. A year later, the hermit returns with a vengeance, and the rehearsal of the Goigs (traditional songs) demonstrates his current form. Some 2,000 people filled the Plaça de la Concordia (in the old Fartáritx neighborhood) this Friday to perform and sing a vibrant sense of belonging in times of mass globalization.