Christmas in the Soller Valley: Tradition, triumphs, and a touch of perspective

The season of family gatherings is one of pleasure and pain. A lot happens in life between one gathering and another. Birth, marriage and death all have their place in the memory box around Christmas and we deal with them all in our individual ways. Eating, walking, watching tv and just living Christmas 2024 is fine by me.

I recently shared a bus journey with a mum and two daughters visiting Soller for the first time. One daughter was studying here and using the visit of her mum to do a little sightseeing. Her normal base was central Palma. To listen to their observations and delight when the mountains came into view was so refreshing. The Soller tunnel opening out into the vista of the Tramuntana all around was stunning and unexpected, for them. They had not expected such rugged beauty, blue sky and light. I wasn’t in their company very long, but I loved their reaction to the world I live in. A great reminder that when the chatter is downbeat and negative that there is always a different perspective.

Soller moves into election time now and these are annual, and of great local importance. Who are going to be the Valiant Dones and Historical figures for the Soller Firo of 2025? This question comes alongside voting papers and gatherings to make the choices. The Victoria Cultural Centre is the hub where the voting will take place and the build-up to Firo on May 12th 2025 begins. The importance of the history and tradition of Firo cannot be overestimated. Regard it as a sideshow at your peril.  If you are new to the Soller world just watch and learn. It will take years to even begin to understand the importance of this annual celebration. Firo battles are preceded by the Fira which is a few days of events and children’s entertainments. If you are making plans around that time the Fira begins on Thursday 8th May 2025 with the opening ceremony in St Bartholomew’s church. It ends with the mother of all battles of Firo on 12th May 2025.

This is also the time when the Valley smells of barbecued onions. Winter barbecues are a big feature of December and January. Charred calçot onions and thick, unctuous romesco sauce is our dish of the winter. Barbecued calcots, wrapped in newspaper and then dipped in the sauce is a taste of the winter for Sollerics. For those who are unfamiliar with this delicacy calçots are a delicious member of the onion family, sitting somewhere between the leek and the spring onion. Sweet and delicate, they are traditionally eaten at calçotadas, Mallorcan winter barbecues, where the calçots are packed onto grills and eaten with bowls of romesco.’

Christmas is a mixed goody bag for us all which becomes three holidays in Soller. Christmas Eve is the big local celebration with Christmas Day held onto by UK Sollerics. A rest then till the New Year Extravaganza, and then the build-up to the arrival of the Three Kings. Normal life tends to go on between the fiestas, the two-week shut down over all the holidays, does not happen so much here. We welcome many visitors to the Soller Valley who are spending their ‘two-week break’ with us.
Happy Christmas to all from the Soller Valley. Thank you for reading all about us and loving our world.