Mallorca protects the processions of Santa Catalina Tomàs as intangible heritage

The Plenary of the Insular Council of Mallorca agreed on October 8, 2026, to declare the civic parades in honor of Santa Catalina Tomàs in Palma, Valldemossa, and Santa Margalida as Assets of Intangible Cultural Interest (BICIM). The agreement is published in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB) no. 135, of October 22, 2026, with provision number 10568 and file EXP. 662/2025 SEGEX 1353705X. The decision unifies three petitions submitted between 2018 and 2019 into a single file to protect festivals with more than two centuries of documented history.

The declaration is framed within articles 14 to 16 of Law 18/2019, of April 8, on the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage of the Balearic Islands, and is supported by the technical report of September 24, 2026. The baseline study was written by art historian Gabriel Carrió Vives, a specialist in the Tomasian phenomenon and author of the book “El carro triomfal, manifestacions populars a l’entorn de santa Caterina Tomàs” (2006). The agreement bears the electronic signature of the secretary of the Insular Commission of Historical Heritage, Miguel Barceló Llompart, on October 21, 2026.

The background dates back to February 5, 2018, when the City Council of Santa Margalida conveyed to the Council the unanimous agreement of the plenary of January 25, 2018, to declare the procession of the Blessed One as a Festival of Cultural Interest. Subsequently, a petition from Laura Estaràs Ferragut, representing the Associació l’Assumpció (Son Espanyolet, Mallorcan dance group), arrived on February 28, 2019, followed by that of the City Council of Valldemossa on May 31, 2019, resulting from a plenary agreement on January 28, 2019. The Advisory Council of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mallorca, meeting on October 23, 2024, decided to unify the three processes (files 57/2018, 107/2019, and 321/2019) into a single procedure.

Three festivals, three calendars, and three proper names

Each manifestation retains its designation and its date, which the technical report specifies precisely:

• Palma: Carro Triomfal de santa Catalina Tomàs, the third Saturday of October in the early morning; since 1793 it was celebrated on the Sunday following July 28, and 1980 was the last year with the old format.
• Valldemossa: Carro Triomfal de la Beata, the evening of July 28, with the procession of the relic on the eve.
• Santa Margalida: Processó de la Beata, the evening of the first Sunday of September, a date that does not correspond to any anniversary of the saint but rather to the end of field work.

The three belong to the field of “Festivals, beliefs, rituals and ceremonies” established by Article 3 of Law 18/2019. They share the same model—an honorary civil parade in homage to the Valldemossina religious figure (1531-1574), who took her vows on August 24, 1555, at the canonry of Santa Magdalena—but they have developed differentiating features and, according to the report, “do not admit copying.”

From the 1868 cart to the twelve carriages

The associated material heritage is also identified. The triumphal cart of Palma is owned by the Consell de Mallorca, appears in its inventory under number E-3/2103, and is a carriage of the galley subtype from 1868, with a pole for up to four draft animals; the most recent restoration interventions were in 2005, 2014, and 2024. In Valldemossa, the carriage has been municipal since 1989 and was remodeled in 2008 to fit sixteen little angels and the Beateta, the year in which the council approved the festival regulations (BOIB no. 145, of October 14).

In Santa Margalida, the procession is governed by the Internal Regulations of the Procession of the Beata, approved on July 1, 2024, and features a dozen carriages with Thomasian themes, including the one for the glorification, from the 1940s. The festival had already obtained the declaration of tourist interest in 1984.

Registration, protection and communication to the Ministry

The agreement deploys specific legal effects:

• Entry in the Insular Registry of Assets of Cultural Interest of the Consell de Mallorca.
• Communication to the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands for preventive entry in the Registry of Assets of Cultural Interest.
• Transfer to the Ministry of Culture for inclusion in the General Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, in accordance with Article 14.3 of Law 10/2015, of May 26.
• Notification to the communities, groups, and individuals who are carriers of the asset and to the linked city councils.

The report accompanies the declaration with safeguarding guidelines: ensuring the historical correctness of the clothing and the carriages, disseminating the song of Sor Tomasseta and its glosses, protecting landmarks of the route such as the pantheon chapel of Santa Magdalena and the Market stone, and avoiding alien additions such as the correfocs of demons, which are inappropriate for festivals where good triumphs over evil.

The protection comes after the 450th anniversary of the saint’s passing, commemorated in 2025 by the Consell de Mallorca, the Bishopric of Mallorca, and the Canonry of Santa Magdalena, and transforms celebrations sustained until now by popular and municipal will into officially recognized heritage, with conservation obligations for the administrations and an open path toward the state inventory.

Source: Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands, no. 135, October 22, 2026, Sec. III. Other provisions and administrative acts, p. 57250 (official reference: 10568 / EXP. 662/2025 SEGEX 1353705X).