San Sebastián Festivals, music and activities for everyone!

January is the month in which Palma dresses up and celebrates patron festivities dedicated to San Sebastián. The programme is loaded with activities, above all in culture and sports. For two weeks, between the 10^th and the 25^th, concerts make the capital city vibrate with a combination of traditional music and more modern requests for the squares and streets.

Within the San Sebastián festival programme are the San Antonio Abat activities celebrated in Ses Voltes on the 17^th. On the weekend closest to San Antonio, Sant Sebastià petit is also celebrated filling the Parque de las Estaciones with children’s activities like magic shows and crafts.

The main attraction of the festival arrives on the 19^th when citizens and visitors alike take to the streets and plazas of Palma to torrar (roast) meats and local sausages on open fires. All the while, the concerts taking place in the main neighbourhoods of the city keep everyone entertained.

Gigantes, cabezudos, over-sized carnival figures, and the Drac de Na Coca, a dragon from Mallorcan legends, depart from the plaza de Cort accompanied by the music of the Xeremiers, local musicians playing traditional instruments, parading until reaching the Plaza Mayor where there is a performance by the Castellers of Palma, groups of people doing human pyramids several metres high. On the morning of the 20^th January, a solemn mass is held in the Palma Cathedral and the Ciutat de Palma literary awards ceremony takes place as well as the cycling competition, that each year receives more and more participants.

The following day, the correfocs are the most awaited show with their devil groups and two fire beasts. In addition, during the last two weeks of the festival you can enjoy guided tours through the historic centre and monumental buildings, conferences in cultural centres, cinema series and theatre shows. The festivities end with a spectacular firework display over Palma bay.