La Soledat recovers the Sant Joan festivals: "We want to fill the streets with tradition again"

PalmaThe Association of Neighbors of La Soledat has revived the Sant Joan festivities with the aim of once again making this celebration a space for coexistence, identity, and popular culture. From June 19 to 27, the neighborhood will host a program of activities that seeks to recover a tradition that for decades was part of the daily life of La Soledat and the festive heritage of Mallorca.

The vice-president of the entity, Isabel Bonnin, recalls that during the first decades of the 20th century, Sant Joan was "one of the most anticipated events in the neighborhood" and that now the objective is "to fill the streets with tradition again." As she recalls, the streets were adorned with decorations made by the neighbors themselves, who "competed amicably to create the most original space," while the figure of the clavari was responsible for collecting contributions to buy a bull that was then distributed among those who had collaborated.

Over time and with social changes, these celebrations began to lose prominence. Nevertheless, from the eighties onwards, coinciding with the birth of the neighborhood association, Bonnin explains that "elements of the community spirit were recovered", such as paper garlands, activities for all ages, and traditional outdoor dinners in front of the houses.

This year, the entity is taking a further step and is committed to fully recovering the Sant Joan festivities under the slogan 'Making a party is making a neighborhood'. The program includes a popular dinner, music, a parade with bagpipers, a dance, a neighborhood and solidarity market, children's activities, a guided tour of the neighborhood, and a voice and piano recital, with the aim of inviting both neighbors and the rest of the citizens to share public space and keep alive traditions that are part of Palma's collective history.