Political festivalization and festive politicization in Mallorca: La Mucada of Sineu from a historical perspective (2002-2015)

Abstract

This article tells the political history of the Much festival in Sineu, Mallorca, an innovative, explicitly invented festive ritual in which, in a manifestly carnivalesque spirit, local and other festivals are parodied. The historical evidence of the genesis and development of this singular fiesta provides three outstanding pieces of evidence that help us to better understand the relationship between festivals and politics in the first decades of the 21st century: 1) The current process of cultural festivalisation is not only of political trivialization from power institutions. There are also phenomena of popular counter-festivalisation from the bottom up of a clearly political nature. 2) The carnivalesque character of many current festivities allows the integration of political minorities and the dramatisation of their utopias beyond instrumental uses from social movements or ludic trivialisations from local institutions. 3) In certain situations of social tension, the sensorial experience and the emotional incorporation of the heterotopia resulting from the festive practice can lead to a limited politicising transformation of the whole celebrating community.