Life
in
Palma

In general there is little activity in Palma’s streets; a few local peculiarities may, however, be mentioned: for example, the custom of people greeting those they meet in the street, even if they do not know one another. Soon one sees a mule laden with pottery goods enclosed in nets passing by; then one encounters a donkey carrying meat, grain, or flour, wearing a collar with a bell, whose ringing summons people wishing to buy such goods. There are also several water carts, likewise equipped with little bells, with water jars (jarras), which pass through the streets every morning; one such cart, drawn by a donkey, travels daily in the Arrabal district. Soon afterward comes another small cart loaded with fish, harnessed to a little horse or donkey, bringing life to the street. The fish seller collects the fish immediately upon the arrival of the llauts from the bay at the quay and brings them into the various districts.

A man dragging a basket of oranges through the streets, whose golden fruits are already mostly sold, with only the last few remaining, cries out in a sing-song voice: “Son ses derreras” (“These are the last ones”), while another, with “Pebre y tomàtigues” (Spanish peppers and tomatoes), loudly advertises his goods. “Alla qui l’arrifa?” (“Who wants to try their luck?”) calls the owner of a prize pig being led through the streets, a cry one can also often hear from the mouths of older fishwives in the fish market. One encounters men carrying little kettles and coffee pots, selling coffee in the streets and workshops. Others offer very thin coffee from small wooden tubs. One often sees vendors of peanuts (cacahuetes or avellanas) with their baskets, much to the delight of boys. Frequently one may observe how the boys secretly take a handful of peanuts while the seller cries out: “Gerade, ungerade!” (“Even or odd!”), to see whether they win. Soon there passes once again the elegant birlocho or carriage of a nobleman departing for the countryside, who at the last moment still has time to call out the traditional farewell to his coachman: “Deu lo guarde de perill!” (“May God keep you from danger!”) before disappearing.There goes a conceited student from Sapiencia, proud to belong to that college, or a whole row of seminarians with blue capes.

Here, seated on the steps of a doorway and surrounded by children, is a young mother from the common people, stroking the curls of a little girl and affectionately calling her “Fyeta meua dolsa” (“my sweet little daughter”). Nearby an older gentleman is loudly greeted by his nickname; a frightened swarm of women cries “Jesus! Jesus!” at the uproar. But who is this old man whom everyone salutes? It is the Captain General. According to Spanish custom, he walks in civilian dress, wearing beneath his vest only the red embroidered sash of the generals. This alone grants him free entrance into the barracks, etc.; only on ceremonial occasions does he wear a uniform. And amid all this one sees, in the background, narrow crooked alleys shaded by projecting balconies. One notices dark coffeehouses, in some ways resembling Arab cafés; brightly paved and surrounded by chocolate shops where the mill is often still turned by hand, and where the older proprietor sits near the door shelling cacao beans from wooden bowls. It is common custom to hang mats on the walls of shops up to a certain height. Here is a picturesque inn with such a dark stable that one must enter with a light even during the day; country people come in with their animals and refresh themselves with a glass of aigordent (brandy) and a few strange crespelles made from flour and oil, stored beside white and red bolas (spongy sugar sweets) in glass jars with tin lids. Soon one sees the esparteros (makers of esparto-grass goods), whose work one never tires of watching; then again, in the lower district, large warehouses where dozens of girls sit side by side weaving sails from white cotton cloth. As they sing, they sometimes let out sighs at the thought that the sail they sew may perhaps carry a beloved one away to Havana; but the singing never ceases, and they continue sewing and singing without interruption. One such song is quoted here:

“If they must write it well,
May they write:
The mills are dear to my beloved
Because they grind flour for paper…”

 

But the sewing machine has already found its way into Palma; many seamstresses sit in the shops. Above them, in noisy cheerfulness, are the shoemakers, extraordinarily numerous in Palma, soon working half in their dark shops and half out in the street itself.

If one walks near the city gates, especially beneath the shady plane trees of the Calle de la Marina and near the Puerta de Jesús, one sees long rows of dusty hired carriages, called carrils. They drive people to neighboring pleasure grounds such as Terreno, Genoa, and especially the taverns of Molinar de Levante. The carrils try to make as many trips as possible. At departure one hears them shout: “Ala ya son cinc!” (“Come on, there are already five!”), urging the missing passengers to climb aboard. If one walks from the Puerta de Santa Catalina toward the Arrabal district, one often sees women from Puig de San Pere and Santa Cruz strolling with their children to Santa Catalina, eating salad as they go. The women of Santa Catalina are a cheerful people.

After this stroll through the streets, let us now consider the daily rhythm of Palma’s life. The poor go to bed at 10 o’clock, the rich at midnight or 1 o’clock, sometimes even later, but they all rise between 8 and 10 in the morning. The siesta is observed almost universally in summer. At 7 in the morning goats are led through the streets so that weakly people may buy milk. Ordinarily, especially in summer, little milk is drunk; instead people usually take chocolate with the splendid quartos pastry, which arrives fresh from the oven in the morning from country girls, mostly from Felanitx. Other pastries include the xucladors, porous cakes through which one sucks chocolate, honey-sweet medrichos, and the ensaimadas and cocas baked with lard. The latter are baked especially large at Christmas and are then called cocas de Navidad. At 11 o’clock many gentlemen eat a second breakfast, what the French call déjeuner. Most people, however, still follow the old custom of dining at 2 o’clock and taking supper late in the evening before going to bed, sometimes not until 1 in the morning. In the afternoon and toward evening, especially in summer, many people go to the cafés to drink iced water or cool beverages such as lemonade or raspberry syrup. The snow for this is brought from the snow huts of the Serra; nowadays artificial ice is also produced. Beer from the brewery in Palma, sold in small bottles and heavily carbonated, is also beginning to spread. It is customary in cafés to play cards only with close acquaintances. Upon entering, one greets them simply, then calls the waiter and orders refreshments for the ladies present, though the donor is not revealed if the ladies wish to pay themselves. Palma’s cafés are mostly small and simple; only recently have bentwood Viennese chairs begun to appear.

If one passes through the streets in the evening, one hears the Angelus bell of the Rosario while the Ave Maria bells sound from the churches. On winter evenings braziers glow inside the houses, around which people gather; otherwise the streets are empty. Only beneath the capa madrileña does one glimpse warmly wrapped old gentlemen on their way to a tertulia among old acquaintances, or attentive young suitors (novios) standing beneath the windows of their sweethearts (novias). Otherwise there is solitude in the alleys, where only now and then cats dart through the darkness, startled by a passing group of singers.

We now wish also to gain an insight into the interiors of the houses. On a cool winter afternoon, while the sun shines brightly in the deep-blue sky, we follow an elderly gentleman, wrapped in a dark-blue capa madrileña lined with silver braid, his face half hidden by the turned-up collar and his head covered with a bufanda, as he pays a visit. Slowly he climbs the staircase of a house. The steps, made of Santanyí stone, are strewn with sea sand; in the corners of the landings stand thorny plants called moxos, which serve the numerous cats there for their needs. Reaching the top, the old gentleman wipes the perspiration from his smooth-shaven face with his bufanda and rings. A maid appears in a rebosillo. After peering through a peephole, she opens the door halfway. The gentlemen are not at home; nevertheless the servant courteously invites him to enter. “Vol descansar” (“You wish to rest”; in winter one says “Se vol escalfar”, “you wish to warm yourself”), she says, though he declines with a bowing “Espresions” (a polite greeting), to which the servant responds “Gràcias.” On the street the old gentleman meets another acquaintance who accompanies him as far as his house. There he offers him entry and refreshment. Naturally everything is answered with “Gràcias.”

Country people are content to say, when they encounter acquaintances while visiting the city: “Bon profit vos fasse.” Visits in Mallorca are almost always announced by the arrival of a card, a very elegant custom, through which the newcomer learns who wishes to associate with him. Visiting hours are from 11 o’clock, preferably from noon until 2. Sundays are chiefly reserved for visits. In rainy weather one simply omits a visit, even if it had been arranged, without excusing oneself in any way; the same happens if one has previously received an invitation. It is considered self-evident that pouring rain spoils everything, and the host would be astonished if someone appeared for a visit in bad weather. This may originally have arisen from the circumstance that only very rarely does one carry an umbrella, and also from the custom of going on foot to most visits. Ladies ordinarily travel only when visiting intimate friends, as does the bishop, who regularly goes on foot whenever he leaves the city. It is also customary, after an outing with someone, for the host a few days later to inquire whether one has “rested from it” (ha descansat), the polite formula. A similar custom exists when an accident occurs in a family, or when a member of a friendly family suffers misfortune, etc. Visiting cards (tarjetas) are not much used, it is noteworthy that many high officials sign cards only with the title of their office, for example “El Capitan General,” “El Regente de la Audiencia.” At funerals, where all windows are closed (some leave them open but lower the blinds) and the house door remains half open, cards are often left in a bandeja (presentation tray) by the staircase, or one writes one’s name on a board. Newly married couples customarily send acquaintances a double card, as is also done elsewhere, by which their new household is placed “at your disposal.” A charming custom is that, when a nun belongs to the family, after a wedding (boda) sweets are sent to all the nuns of her convent, likewise to all relatives and acquaintances who did not attend the wedding. The servants of both families also receive refreshments. After childbirth the mother likewise receives visits.

Life in Palma is simple; excessive luxury is avoided. In most aristocratic houses, however, many silver cutlery pieces and plates are preserved, and copper vessels shine in the kitchens; these objects pass from parents to children and are regarded as sacred heirlooms. Recently iron and sheet-metal cooking utensils have come into use. The servants eat bread baked in the house; for the masters bread is purchased from the baker. Tablecloths and napkins are usually made of domestic fabric. The hand towels are elegantly adorned with differently knotted fringes, some quite expensive. Clay water jugs, glazed and usually green, sometimes also copper ones with a ribbed handle, are still found in many dining rooms, though the latter custom is gradually disappearing. One still firmly preserves the arruxador for driving away flies: it consists of a handle wrapped in colorful paper and strips of colored paper; during meals a servant waves it in the summer to keep the flies away. Among the very poor, simple oil lamps are common, while wealthier households use small brass lamps beside the bed, as well as oil and petroleum lamps. Stearin candles instead of wax candles are also becoming more common. Porcelain and stoneware, entirely white or decorated with blue or other colored designs, are found in every household; the ordinary ware comes from Valencia, the finer from Seville, France, or England. Foreign glassware, mostly French, and German metal trays (bandejas) complete the service. Iron knives and forks with wooden or bone handles and silver spoons are found even among the well-to-do; among the rich, however, silver is preferred. The servants mostly use wooden spoons. All these things are usually kept in a cupboard built into the wall with a wooden door, sometimes only in a sort of wall cupboard.

Palma scarcely knows class distinctions; all social ranks live in brotherly simplicity. Even the noble gentlemen are cheerful and pleasure-loving. They converse jovially with the lowest classes, sit beside them, and shake their hands. Here too the deeply rooted religious principle of Christian equality seems to have great influence. They usually live only for themselves and their family. Invitations to dinners, balls, or country parties are almost unknown; the former occur only at weddings, the latter are confined to close family circles. Balls are given only a few times during Carnival. All have their true residence in the city; nevertheless many noble families spend a large part of the year uninterruptedly in the countryside. Their stay depends on the location of their estates; some move there in winter, others in summer, most in autumn. In this way they inspect their properties and can supervise the work of their laborers. Carnival season almost always brings them back into the city, as does the height of summer because of sea bathing, especially families with children. The nobles do not possess villas in the true sense of the word, but they do have pleasant country residences. The smaller villas near the city mostly belong to merchants and civil servants. Despite the excellent dowries one must pay for noble daughters in Spain, all noble families are impoverished, though they themselves would rather enlarge their debts than sell beloved estates. They consider it a disgrace to part with one of them. Many nobles have a chaplain who usually lives in the , as they are called in Spain, who seldom concern themselves with the education of the children. They dine with the master of the house and provide evening entertainment. Before meals the Benedicite is spoken by the father, as is generally the case in aristocratic families as well as among common people, even when no clergyman is present.

Social life in Palma offers little variety. People meet in the theater, or gather in the evenings at the casinos, of which there are several in Palma, serving as meeting places. Formerly there was a casino in the house of the Burgues family on the Plaza del Marqués de la Romana, but it survived only briefly in the quiet spirit of the Palma nobility. Now the casino for merchants and the middle classes, Casino Palmesano, stands farther up in a large building on the right side of the Calle del Conquistador. Worth mentioning also is the botega at the end of the Born, belonging to a society of forty acquaintances, who gather there, as in a coffeehouse, though without mutual obligations, and have refreshments brought over by a boy from a nearby café. Sometimes a group of acquaintances organizes evening gatherings with singing, through which some become familiar with the Italian language, though otherwise language skills are little developed. French is still the best-known foreign language, English very little, and German almost not at all. Occasionally distinguished poets arrange literary entertainments in which poems by Mallorcan authors are read aloud. Artistic life is little developed. There are a few young painters, but only the already famous receive commissions. Sculptors are few. The society Fomento de la Pintura tries through a permanent exhibition in a shop on the Born and by other means to awaken artistic appreciation among the population.

Church attendance is very active. Every day large numbers of people of both sexes and all ages go to church. Beside the holy water basins stand various collection boxes fixed to the wall, for the poor of the parish, the souls in purgatory, the upkeep of the church, the missions, etc., into which one places some small amount after taking holy water. If one enters church together with someone, he offers holy water to the other. One sees ladies in mostly black mantillas, even when they have brought servants with them, sitting and praying before large, long rosaries. The use of prayer books hardly exists, as elsewhere in Spain, because the churches are usually dark; those who use them bring little wax tapers (cerillos). Occasionally one sees elderly gentlemen kneeling for long periods on the floor. For such devout people Palma has a witty expression: one says they “pisan aygo beneita,” literally “they tread holy water.” In winter many people wear little mats beneath their knees in church because the stone floors are cold. All statues of saints wear little skirts of various colors, often very costly according to the season; on special feast days they are decorated with gemstones. The same is true of statues of the Madonna. The garments stem from pious donations. An Arabic custom may also be mentioned, namely the laying of consecrated stones, in Palma this happens at the Beata near San Nicolás, where the stone is usually formally covered. Particularly beautiful is the custom after confession of asking parents and superiors forgiveness for one’s faults.

Among the most characteristic traits of Palma’s population, religious feeling is one of the foremost. This appears especially in the great veneration for the miraculous San Cristo de la Sanch. At nearly all hours of the day people wander there. The crowds on Sundays and feast days are especially large in the afternoon. Besides these daily pilgrimages to San Cristo de la Sanch, hardly a week passes without one or several persons, either miraculously rescued from severe suffering or granted some other favor, coming barefoot to the Sanch. They pass through the main portal, kneel through the whole church and the chapel of the Sanch, then climb the stairway leading to the dressing room where the Christ statue stands, at whose feet they fulfill their vows. Some devotees even sing a Te Deum, of which more than a hundred are reportedly held yearly. It also often happens that sailors who have escaped the danger of shipwreck process from the harbor quay to the Sanch in their own ships in order to thank the San Cristo and dedicate a sail of the ship, carried there on the backs of part of the crew, a practice called “fer un peregrí,” making a pilgrimage. The sail is later sold and the proceeds go to the poor box. During severe droughts public prayers are held in Palma by the population in the cathedral and other churches, with processions carrying the statue of San Cristo de la Sanch to the cathedral, where it remains upon the high altar throughout the Rogation days. The cathedral chapter and parish clergy later bring the San Cristo back to the church in solemn procession after the Rogation days end. A great crowd accompanies it when there is severe drought, especially peasants carrying burning candles. Women also take part. The principal feast of the Sanch takes place on the first Sunday of July. The festivities last three days, during which the church and courtyard before the main portal are not large enough to hold all the people. Visiting brothers of the Brotherhood of the Sanch receive free breakfasts with chocolate and pastries in a hall of the hospital building. The high altar and chapel of the Sanch shine during these days with ornaments and lights. After the feast of the Sanch comes the novena and feast of the Virgen del Carmen, celebrated less magnificently than the Sanch, but still with great devotion. One of the principal church festivals of the Sanch is also the procession of Maundy Thursday (Jueves Santo), already mentioned generally in the discussion of religious festivals.

The Feast of Corpus Christi is celebrated in Palma with particular splendor, according to the Spanish saying: “Hay tres jueves en el año que atraen la admiración, Jueves Santo, Corpus Christi y el día de la Ascención,” “There are three Thursdays in the year that inspire admiration, Holy Thursday, Corpus Christi, and Ascension Day.” The windows are voluntarily decorated with red, yellow, green, and blue damask cloths and occupied by elegantly dressed ladies, while in the streets one sees a colorful confusion. The procession leaves the Seu, first come the tambours of the Ayuntamiento, then the statues of the individual guilds, before which boys dressed as stilt walkers proceed, then the seminarians, the blanquets with their delicate angelic faces, and the beneficiados of the parish churches with elegant processional candles, then the banner of the cathedral chapter with wax flowers preserved as relics. This banner is so heavy that three church servants must carry it in turns. Finally comes the monstrance, the bright ringing of festival bells announcing the devout crowd. The clergy follow beneath a richly embroidered baldachin, along with the governor’s household. A detachment of cavalry forms the conclusion of the procession, which passes through the city and returns only late to the cathedral under the sound of bells. Whenever a consular or official flag passes by, the latter is lowered into the street so that the Sanctissimum may pass over it, a sign of the reverence of earthly power before divine power.

We now wish to observe Palma’s promenades. One of the most beloved walks is that along the Muralla, where the finer world gathers on winter afternoons. It is a lofty level from which one may look out over the broad bay with the shores of Terreno and the arriving ships, or watch the noisy calatravins, browned by the glow of the kilns, mostly slender youths who amid jokes and laughter wash hides in the sea near the Puerta de la Calatrava or dry them at the foot of the Muralla wall. Palma calls the tanners calatravins because they live in the district of that name, just as residents of the Puig are called seamen because many sailors live in Puig de San Pere. There one sees omnibuses and galeritas driving majestically past, here a nimble four-in-hand announcing itself from afar with the ringing of its bells, there a number of carretets racing one another, a favorite amusement on Sunday afternoons. Many people watch on Sundays from the Muralla above the Puerta Pintada the arrival of the trains and the people coming into the city, among them often cheerful groups who return from Pont d’Inca where they have drunk inexpensive wine. Here one also sees how on the entire eastern side of the city the rope makers are busily at work in the trenches beside the walls, while on the northeastern side of the Muralla, especially near the Puerta de Jesús, several cows and calves graze peacefully. Sometimes while walking along the Muralla one notices a flock of tame pigeons painted with ponceau red. Palma in general has many lovers of pigeons, many Palmesans possess large pigeon houses in which numerous species are bred. These pigeon lofts are usually located in the dezvan, a cage-like attic made of wooden bars on the roof, from which the owner lets the pigeons fly daily at certain times. Whistling or a flag serves as a signal for the pigeons to return, where they receive food. One of them wears a little bell on its foot so that the others do not stray.

In summer on Sunday evenings, carriages drive at walking pace along the Paseo des Born. Ladies wrapped in mantillas usually sit in omnibuses or galeritas, though sometimes also in mule-drawn or horse-drawn carriages. Some mules stand out for their graceful forms. Formerly they mostly wore part of the harness dyed black so they could be distinguished as animals intended for field work, but this custom is increasingly disappearing. At such times one lingers for a while on the promenade and listens to the music played for those for whom a wooden estrade has been built to the left. Although the Born is longer and unquestionably more beautiful, even more carefully maintained, the Rambla is not a promenade for the aristocracy, rather it is mostly frequented in the evening by the lower classes. The preference for the Born may well lie in the pleasant sea air, especially since the demolition of the Puerta del Muelle. On summer evenings people also like to stroll along the Molo. Chairs stand beside the little wooden booths there for the promenaders.

The ladies drive in winter in their cochos to one gate and return through another. Often the destination of the excursion is a nearby estate. Entire families sit in their cochos, in the pescante the coachman and servants, usually with lacquered caps such as were used in Prussia, and a livery with metal collars in winter, while in summer mostly bluish linen garments are worn. Among the coachmen there are, like everywhere, people who care lovingly for their animals. They begin young as mozos and remain coachmen in the same household thereafter.

Let us now leave the inner city and walk along the Molo. Here there is always lively activity. Already in the first morning hours one sees the fish-laden llauts arriving from the bay and peasants with their produce, some loaded with St. John’s bread, others with wine. Other newly arrived goods are driven into the city, and a carabinero thrusts his spear into the loads for inspection. Here lie whole piles of old barrels covered with ship pitch or wicker-covered bottles filled with anisette or brandy, there crates with drying figs beside heaps of grain dust or coal. Meanwhile the carabineros with their weather-browned faces stride gravely up and down, and porters and wagoners dressed in blue short blouses wait impatiently for work. Noon is announced by a little bell hanging from a wooden post beside the chapel of Santa Barbara. At once activity stops, the porters lie down in the shade or keep siesta after a small meal until the bell calls them back to work. During this rest period one may observe on the escampavias or some llaut true Mallorcan sailor life, how fraternally they sit in circles on deck around a large bowl or rice dish and eat from it, how good-humored and happy these children of the sun and air are. The arrival of a steamer naturally always brings lively activity to the Molo, and shortly beforehand one may see a cocho arriving whose master awaits someone. Most moving, however, is the homecoming of sailors from America, who often remain overseas for years; then the relatives come to the consigna to await them. What a contrast to the moment when they waved farewell to them with a handkerchief from the outermost rocks of the Molo as they departed on their distant voyage!

Bathing is one of the principal summer pleasures. Altogether Palma has five bathing establishments: one for seafarers at the Portella, a second beyond the Puerta del Muelle for sea baths and artificial baths (baños artificiales), and two for freshwater bathing. All these establishments are open only in summer. The bathing establishment for seafarers is a favorite place of recreation. People bathe there at all hours of the day, according to convenience and the possibility of obtaining an empty bathing cell, whose number is not sufficiently large. The principal bathing hours are from 10 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon, and from 6 to 8 in the evening. Early in the day the seminarians bathe there, later the more refined ladies who arrive in their cochos. This establishment is rebuilt anew every spring and dismantled again in autumn. The violently surging waves there require precautionary measures. It consists of a row of bathing cabins with the associated bathing space enclosed all around by boards and screened outside with mats, so that one may swim farther out at will. Truly refreshing is the coolness there in the fresh breeze that comes in around midday. For seven such baths one pays 6 pesetas. There is also a bathing place where women, or several families together, may bathe, and three other enclosed bathing areas where men bathe communally. Women pay for each bath ¾ real, men ¼, 2/4, or ¾ real according to the class of the bathing room. The yearly attendance at the bathing establishments is estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 persons. At the exit of the Puerta del Muelle, on a kind of esplanade on the left side of the main Molo, close to the seashore, stands the other bathing establishment, likewise built of wood though sturdily constructed. It contains fifteen stone bathtubs in separate cells. Sulfur baths are taken there, likewise seawater baths, for which the water is brought through pipes by means of a pump and then heated appropriately. This establishment is used yearly by 400 to 500 persons. The two freshwater bathing establishments are open almost the whole year, at least from the beginning of spring until the beginning of winter. The bathtubs are made of marble. In many private houses in Palma bathing facilities for domestic use are already found.

Since we are speaking of water and bathing, we should also mention the washerwomen, who at the washing troughs make many jokes and thoroughly discuss the gossip of the city. Much laundry for Palma is washed in the countryside, especially in Esporles; outside the city there are also public lavaderos for the poor. The wealthy have their washing done in the home. For less affluent families who do not wish to use the public lavadero, there are fifteen private lavaderos with altogether 165 basins.

Finally we should also take a look at Palma’s marketplaces. These offer the foreigner much of interest, though not to the same degree as some in mainland Spain. Daily a vegetable market is held on the Plaza de Abastos, where people display their wares in little stalls. Green vegetables are available on the Plaza de Atarazanas for the lower district of the city.

On Saturdays the real market takes place on the Plaza del Mercado, where pottery, plates, jarras of various forms and other vessels, canvas from Manacor made of white hemp cloth, olives, onions and garlic, as well as much lavender, are sold. The country people wear their traditional costume on these occasions. A smaller companion market is the little market for pots, jugs, and similar wares, held likewise on Saturdays on the Rambla. On the Plaza de Santa Eulalia birds are offered for sale, especially canaries and other seed-eating birds brought by peasants to market. In Mallorca there is a great fondness for sparrows. Pigeons of various kinds are likewise brought to market. In winter and spring one also sees in the square young date palms, mostly in pots, and young orange trees. The latter are also often found on the Mercado square and are frequently carried through the streets for sale. Besides these regular markets and the Pescadería at the beginning of the Muelle, which is neither large nor airy and usually not very richly stocked because many fish are sold directly from the arriving llauts, Palma also has several annual fairs. The two most important are the Ferias de Ramos and San Tomás. The former takes place on the Rambla on Palm Sunday and already begins on the preceding evening; in more recent times games and amusements have also been introduced there. At this annual fair all kinds of goods are sold in wooden booths. On the Day of the Three Kings a large toy market is also held on the Rambla. The Feria de San Tomás takes place on December 21, especially on the preceding evening, at two locations: at the Enramadas, the area near the Puerta de San Antonio, where the animals favored for Christmas meals are sold, turkeys, chickens, and suckling pigs; and within the city on the Plaza Major, for fruit, apples, penjois (hanging clusters of grapes), turrón and other baked goods, as well as children’s toys. On the Enramadas, on St. Anthony’s Day, a large pig market and a lamb market are held at the end of Holy Week. The quantity of lambs sold there is very great, for even the poor wish to eat roast lamb at Easter.