Rafel Ginard expresses his devotion to this region of the Levant and is enraptured contemplating the view that goes from Sa Colònia to La Ermita.
Captivated in contemplating the esplanade of Sa Colònia and the mountains of S'Ermita, I make a discovery: here there is a summary of fine art. Painting and drawing: the colours of the thicket and the fields, the crests of the ploughed land and the lines of the vines. Architecture and sculpture: border, huts, and the majestic mountains; Ses Beques, half-finished statues. Music: the trickling springs, the murmuring of bells, the whistling of the breeze. Dance: the coming and going of the waves, pines and the French tamarisks. And, furthermore, as if that were not enough, these places carry the prestigious names of History, Prehistory, and Legend: caves and monoliths, the Moors' surrender towards the spring at Sa Jonquera, King Jaume II hunting at Sa Devesa, tales of thieves and smugglers.
"Visió de sa Colònia" a Croquis Artanencs, 1964
Translated by Richard Mansell.
(Sant Joan, 1899 – Artà, 1976). A writer and folklorist, Ginard studied at the seminary in Majorca and joined the Franciscan order. He was at the convent of Saint Francis in Artà from 1913 until his death. In 1929 he published the collection Croquis artanencs (Sketches from Artà), a balance of popular and learned prose, where he brought together his work in the Artà publication “Llevant” from 1926 onwards. Many of his writings focus on the landscape around Artà that fascinated him so much. De com era infant (On how I was a child, 1932) brings together his memories of early childhood, very different to Llorenç Riber’s idealised memories, where he presents life in a small Majorcan town in the first half of the 20th century, in a realist narrative which does not hold back on any of the shortages and austerity they went through. He entered the Jocs Florals literary competition and achieved some success. Over many years he dedicated himself to virtually exhaustive research into Majorca’s popular poetry. He explained the origin of his interest in this type of poetry, as well as his methodology, in El cançoner popular de Mallorca (Majorca’s traditional songbook, 1960). Later, with the support of the Fundació March, he published four volumes that made up this opus magna between 1966 and 1975, with a prologue by Francesc de B. Moll.
Both in his prose work and in his less well known poetry, Rafel Ginard is an authentic master of the landscape. Artà’s coastal town, called Colònia de Sant Pere, has regained its tradition of being a region for good quality wine.
The presence of humans on this part of the coast in prehistoric times can be seen today. There are caves used as tombs at sa Devesa and on the hill of el Molí, as well as Talaiotic remains at sa Canova and can Blai. In Moorish times there was an estate there, Beni Ferrutx, and in the Llibre dels Fets King Jaume I explains the resistance offered by the Moors in the mountains of Ferrutx, hidden in a cave and with enough livestock to withstand the Christian siege. After the conquest, with the short dynasty of the House of Majorca, King Sanç established a royal estate there for hunting, and species were introduced specifically to be hunted, such a boar, pheasant and deer, with so much success that officials in Felanitx complained about the damage the latter were causing in their fields.
The origin of the estate is an agricultural settlement like at Campos and elsewhere in the country, which was promoted by two brothers from Alaró called Homar. The first workers came from Artà and other places in the area. Vines have been and still are important, and grapes from the area are highly prized, given the micro-climate and earth that give them unique characteristics. Rafel Ginard also highlights the landscape in various articles at various times, documenting the changes in how la Colònia looks, which nowadays are at a vertiginous rate. Other writers have chosen it as a setting for their work, such as Bartomeu Fiol, Miquel Àngel Lladó and Miquel Mestre.
