The busy January world of Soller
Published in the Majorca Daily Bulletin
Tuesday 20th January 2015
Photgraphs by Rachel Fox
The people of Soller reclaim their City in January. They are glad to share their fiestas with visitors but essentially it is the the locals time to celebrate the fiestas of the Church calendar that have been with them since their ancestors days. Much has been written about Sant Antoni and his place in the lives of a rural community but this city celebrates this fiesta like no other. Every village and community within the Hidden Valley has their bonfires, devils dancing, music and barbeque. The ones that don’t cram it in this weekend will do it next or the weekend after. The whole of the second half of January is barbeque party time in Soller. The idea that barbeques are summer events is alien to this culture. Winter barbeques of a communal nature is what they do and even the word barbeque doesn’t really summon up what a torreda is. This is a South American influence on the great hunks of meat which are cooked and shared. I think it is right to say that you have never experienced one of these you do not truly know what a barbeque is capable of.
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We all spent the afternoon on Sunday in our City centre watching the blessing of the animals and the Soller Horse races. The animals were every domestic pet you would expect plus the lamb on a pink lead, the ferret and the multi coloured parrots. The priest was so sweet to the children bringing the animals, sprinkling them with water and giving them a certificate to say that their pet had been blest. I was near enough to hear him ask each child what the name of the animal was before the blessing took place. A day in the life of a Soller priest was there before my very eyes.
The Soller Horse Races were relocated this year to the lower car park where sand had been laid on the floor to save the horses hooves. The immaculate horses and their riders strutted their stuff before racing for the ribbons tantalizingly above their grasp. A great celebration of the country loving heart of this community from horses to ferrets was enjoyed by an enthusiastic crowd. There were the odd moments where it looked as though the horses were going to get out of hand but thankfully all was controlled and animals and humans got home in one piece.
The official fiesta season comes to a brief halt before we gear up towards carnival but there is work to do before that. The Town Hall is busy trying to finish all the outstanding works before the May elections so the streets of Soller are being dug, patched, and painted and in one case created. A new road is almost complete and will link up the Estiradors area of Soller with the villages of Biniaraix and Fornalutx. The road was carved through gardens and fields and literally is a brand new road. The dry stone walling and the stone paving stones are beautiful to watch being crafted. The announcement was made last week that this new road will be called ‘Carrer Pere Serre’ after the illustrious son of our City who also happens to be the Chairman of this newspaper.
The rumblings about the covered Market Hall of Soller have occupied our attention as the result of a survey into the profile of the market user was published. This market is an institution and sells fresh fish in one section and houses two butchers and many greengrocers in the other. There is also a café, a dressmaker and other stalls selling food and general groceries. It is open every day except Sunday with the busiest days with the most stalls happening on Saturday. The survey told us what we expected to hear which is that the profile of the average customer is a lady in her 50’s or 60’s being the most common user. The under 40 shoppers were almost non existent and the 20’s and under did not figure at all. If the Market is going to survive the next few years with the prospect of a large new supermarket opening in Soller it has to completely reinvent itself. There are young voices around who have done research into the specialist food markets in the UK . They can see that the young‘ foodie’ people of Soller could have great benefit from an updated Soller Market. The key is in the publicity, PR and general definition of itself as a market. There is a will for change and the theory of supporting the local market is generally accepted. This is one more project that will be exciting to watch over the coming months.
So many projects underway and in the pipeline and so little time to complete them before the ballot boxes decide who is to control the politics of Soller for the next few years. The promises made at the last election are being scrutinised and a list prepared on what has and has not been achieved. The effects of social media is being felt like never before with little snippets being drip fed into Face book and Twitter. We live in very interesting busy times here in the Soller Valley.
