La Beata in Santa Margalida

On the first Sunday of September Santa Margalida stages what it calls Mallorca's most typical procession, in honour of Saint Catalina Tomàs, 'la Beata'. It grew out of the celebrations of her beatification in 1792 and is now protected as intangible cultural heritage by the Consell de Mallorca. At 21:00 the procession sets off: floats showing scenes from the saint's life, brass bands, xeremiers (Mallorcan pipers), hundreds of pagesos (farmers) carrying clay jars between two people, and the dimonis (devils) who try to grab the jars and smash them in front of the Beata. Everyone sings the song of Sor Tomasseta, and the final trencadissa (jar smashing) is in Plaça de l'Església. At 10:00 the devils run through town waking everyone up. Tip: find a spot on the route before 20:30, park on the edge of town and stay for the revetla (street party) in Plaça de la Vila.