El PI (THE PINE) IS THE MOST IMPORTANT WINTER FESTIVAL IN POLLENÇA

SANT ANTONI IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR AND TRADITIONAL FESTIVITIES ON THE ISLAND OF MALLORCA. The most characteristic of this celebration are the bonfires and Saint Antoni’s pine tree.

On the 16th January there is the bonfires contest, and it consists of firewood piles with allegorical figures of the saint or of the local tradition, which are lighted at night.
 
This festival’s highlight takes place on January 17th. The pine climbing is the main activity of the day. In old times the tradition was to cut it from a different country estate every year and plant it on the festivity’s day in the Plaça Vella. Nowadays, a great amount of people go and fetch the pine after the animals blessing over midday, on the morning of Saint Antoni’s day. 

The place chosen is, invariably, the country estate of Ternelles. The pine, previously cut and foreshortened, is between 20 and 24 metres high. After lunch, it is pulled by volunteers until the Plaça Vella, where it is soaped; then, it is planted in this same square and the village youth fight to have the honour of being the first in climbing up to the branches, where, as a reward, there is  a bag full of confetti.

The residents of Port de Pollença go to Formentor to bring home a cut down pine treee (El Pi). Some go by boat, while others take the buses provided by the Town Council of Pollença.

They pull the tree from the nearby pine forest and load it onto to a fishing boat (barca de bou) to be taken to the old dock of Port de Pollença. Upon arrival, the pine tree is unloaded and pulled with ropes to the Plaça Miquel Capllonch, where it is erected to be climbed on.