Next Saturday, the Federació de Dimonis, Diables i Bèsties de foc de les Illes Balears (Federation of Demons, Devils and Beasts of fire in the Balearic Islands), has called a demonstration in Palma. This association is not a satanic sect or anything similar, if not an organization that brings together the long list of groups of demons on Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza. The devil is part of many popular festivals on the Balearic Islands, representing evil defeated by good, personified in some saint. These characters are much more than a representation of evil, they are the playful aspect of the party to whom is almost everything allowed, thus they become the real main characters of the festival.
Dances and performances of devils, are a tradition deeply rooted in the Catalan-speaking lands, as elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Is believed to have their origin in plays of the Middle Ages. In summer there are many villages on Mallorca, which during their festival organize a correfocs (literally translated would be fires run) plenty of fireworks. This is where the controversy has arisen, which has lead to the organization of this demonstration, since the Directive 2007/23 EC of the European Parlament, has extremely limited the use of pyrotechnics in public, endangering the celebration of the traditional correfocs.
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