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

PalmaThe Association of Neighbors and Neighbors of La Soledat has recovered the San Juan 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 Mallorcan festive heritage.

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

With the passage of time and social changes, these celebrations gradually lost prominence. However, since the eighties, coinciding with the birth of the neighborhood association, Bonnin explains that "elements of community spirit were recovered," such as paper garlands, activities for all ages, and traditional al fresco dinners in front of the houses.

This year, the entity takes 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.