Cossiers dancing in Manacor.

Cossiers dancing in Manacor. | Assumpta Bassa

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterManacor28/05/2016 00:00
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Manacor's spring fairs and fiestas, which last until 5 June, are a major item on the island's calendar. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the agriculture, livestock and artisan craft market, things having got underway on Friday with the folk dance of the cossiers. There was tradition, the smell of rosemary and a tour of the historic town (officially a city because the title was bestowed on it by the crown).

The cossiers performed five dances as they moved along the streets in front of numerous spectators towards the town hall. They were accompanied to the cloister of Sant Vicenç Ferrer by the mace-bearers, the mayor of Manacor, Pedro Rosselló, and this year's deliverer of the "pregón" opening address, the musician Tomeu Matamalas.

He recalled his time growing up in Manacor. In the 1960s there was the siren from the pearls' factory and the clock of the church. There were the "rituals" of going to the cinema and then there was the arrival of tourism and changes thanks to new technology. He made a plea to the young of the town to live according to the times as they are now but not lose sights of their roots against the rise of an alienating globalisation. To newcomers he asked them to respect and appreciate "our land" and to help in shoring up the foundations of local culture.