A Scary Night...
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
13
188
Trip End
Jun 28, 2009
Balearic Islands,
Spain and Canary Islands
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Last night, my family went to the Fire Festival for St. Bartholemew Day in Soller, Majorca. We took the train to Soller from Port de Soller - about 5km away through the tunnel. We had to wait an hour in the town square for the festival to start. We got ice cream and sat on a wall in front of a church waiting for it to start. It was supposed to start at 10 but only started at 11.
First, they started with a movie on a big screen about some Spanish soldiers from Soller looking for an idol (we think it was a treasure). Then the movie ended and some actors dressed as the soldiers marched out and came to the church right in front of us. A Soller soldier went up the stairs of the church and got the idol, but he was killed by some devil soldiers
Fishermen Festival or Night of Fire?
. Then the other soldiers were massacred by a big group of devil guys in a big fight. I was standing right in front of them. The devil guys were all painted orange and red. They had horns and weird pointed noses, and crazy headdresses, and they were carrying torches - lit!. Some of the devil guys started banging on drums, the other ones started lighting fireworks everywhere - over our heads, towards us, and all around us. They were shooting roman candles and spinning fireworks straight at the people in the audience. My little sister started crying and we ran for cover. All of us got little holes in our clothes from the fireworks raining down on us and one even burned my hair black on my birthmark spot. By then, we were ready to get out of there, but we were trapped in the middle of the square and the devils kept running all around and lighting more and more fireworks. Before it started, we had seen kids and teenagers who were soaking wet and wearing masks, hats, bandanas and long sleeved clothes and pants even though it was hot. We thought there might be a dunking booth or something, but now we know it is to protect them. Lots of the kids kept running through the fireworks for fun. The devil guys kept on drumming and some people were dancing. It was crazy and there were people running everywhere. I kept ducking my Dad and Mom to stay safe.
It took us a little while, but we were able to get to the street that led to the train and caught the last train back to Port de Soller at 11:30. Fireworks and drumming were still going on when we left the station - I bet it went on all night. I felt relieved to be on the train and out of there! Believe me, I do not want to go to the fire festival again!
The funny thing was that on the way home, Lu said, "Next time we go to that party, we should all wear hats and wet our hair so we can run through the fire." She can go, but I don't want to go back again!
Comments
oh my gosh!!
this sounds pretty scary... certainly a night for you guys to remember, I'm sure. Hopefully your burns weren't too bad. Keep up the good writing Zola- I'm having fun reading all about your travels. Tell your family hello.
-bree