The "pirate felanitxerisme" of Maria Monserrat fills the Plaça de l'Arraval
The creator of the 'Recital of Lies' has been responsible for the microphone and the balcony, for creating this year's El Cosso fan club's proclamation, ironic and anti-system, sung and applauded by the thousands of people who fit there
FelanitxMaria Monserrat Colom (Felanitx, 1996), writer, storyteller, ‘professional liar’ and fugitive from a family of tobacconists from Plaça de les Palmeres, was this morning responsible for the now traditional, mythical and vindicative opening speech of the El Cosso society, held every August 28th in the very Felanitx Plaça de l’Arraval.
Full of thousands of people, flags, white mariol·los and sunglasses, “and always at a time that no one knows when it will be” (between 9 and 9:45 a.m.), the square began to gain acoustic volume as the procession, gathered minutes before by the march in Plaça d’Espanya, arrived amidst flags, estelades and palestines, bagpipes and flutes.
And it turns out that this has been this year's theme for the alternative opening speech, the one that brings more people, the one that leaves the official one (held a few days ago in Plaça de Santa Margalida) almost as an anecdote. Pirates against the system, pirates against the municipal government focused on the controversy “doing noisy works” and “that every time I have proposed a cultural project they have rejected it”, and pirates in favor of a more socially just and forward-looking world.
This is how Maria Monserrat arrived. Acclaimed by the masses, scarf on her head and a flag of skull and crossed swords. A lap around the arena, as if in Plaça de la Macarena, and up to one of the side balconies of l’Arraval. “This is a festival that cannot be explained because it has no explanation… there are others, but this one is different because you don't know what it is,” said the speaker, who recalled and interspersed testimonies from her predecessors in the festival.
And, in the meantime, lies, stories with half-truths. Entertaining narratives that you never know if they are what they seem and that have made Monserrat famous in recent years. The Felanitx native has an objective as simple as, often, forgotten by the majority: to be happy doing what she likes.
‘Recital of lies’
The project that has most marked the career of Maria Monserrat Colom in recent years is the Recital de Mentides, an oral literature performance in Catalan born in 2024. An almost spontaneous creation, lacking strategic planning, and more the result of a mix of frustration and revelation.
At that time, Monserrat was working in a job she didn't like and felt she had strayed far from the person she wanted to be. Within that crisis, ideas began to bubble up until one materialized into this project: sharing stories live.
The proclamation ended with praise for Felanitx, its town, people, culture, and language; the entrance of a pirate ship commanded by DJ Sor Estiercol, a literal shower of chocolate balls for everyone, a fireworks display, and Maria Hein singing the adaptation of Superestrella by Aitana, this year's anthem renamed Superquica.
La Macarena
Likewise, and for the second consecutive year, the La Macarena bullring, purchased at the end of 2024 by a group of people from Felanitx from the Barcelona businessman Pedro Balañá, has reopened its doors for a private party (one had to pay to enter and consume Mallorcan frit, palo de crema, and coffee) which has turned the arena into a pseudo-bullfighting spectacle but without real bulls. Proclamation, meeting of traditional fan clubs, and music by local idol Juan de Miedo.
