Although the holiday was introduced in these parts when she was already an adult, Lina Marà is very clear about why Halloween has cornered All Saints’ Day: “Everything that is a party is welcome and, besides, children love it”, she explains in the queue at Can Vadell. Nothing like the opinion of another customer who leaves this bakery with about a kilo of panellets and who frowns when asked about the tradition imported over the last few years: “This Halloween thing is a nonsense that I don’t know where it comes from and it’s a disaster,” he replies, curtly, as he continues on his way.
But there is one more revealing fact about the roots of the Anglo-Saxon holiday in these parts. At the popular costume store La Cucaña, Halloween has been the busiest time of the year for six years now, even more so than Carnival.
Halloween costumes
“We have been going since last Monday with the same intensity,” confesses the owner, Damaris Ortega, with a flood of customers swarming through the establishment. In fact, a security guard is responsible for regulating access to the constant queue that forms at the entrance of calle Aragon.
During the past week, children have been the center of attention at La Cucaña, especially after school in the afternoons. The demand for children’s costumes is usually marked by fantasy films, “but in recent seasons no film has come out that has set a trend,” explains Ortega.
Therefore, Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad, The Killer Clowns, “It” or “The Corpse Bride” are still the main references, along with the skulls of the Mexican Day of the Dead catrinas. On the other hand, a few hours before Halloween night, it is the youths and adults who fill the store. What they ask for most are colored contact lenses and makeup, “the easy thing to wear after the party,” says Ortega.
Marc Boned and Aurora MarÃ, 19 and 18 years old, are looking for white paint to make up a skull before going out for the night. Both still know the traditions of their ancestors in Tots Sants, such as the trencada de fruits secs. “My parents and grandparents don’t want these traditions to be lost,” Boned admits.
Juana RamÃrez, 65, wears a witch costume for her granddaughter Elia, 4. Despite the generation gap, the grandmother still enjoys Halloween. “Although I don’t dress up now, I love it. Since it became fashionable, I always used to put on make-up and dress up with whatever I had at home, just like at carnival time.”
Halloween at Mercat Nou
The aisles of the Mercat Nou have also been decorated for the occasion with Halloween pumpkins, spider webs and skulls. But the atmosphere is far from the typical hustle and bustle of a holiday eve, since, in addition to the usual closure of fishmongers on Monday, many stalls have taken the opportunity to have a long weekend. Not for Forn Can Coves however, which is full of elderly people. They come for the panellets, made with a dough of almonds, sugar, boiled potato or sweet potato, eggs and lemon zest.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.