It’s that time of year again! And Mancor de la Vall, our small, picturesque village has been buzzing excitedly on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Tramuntana mountain range. The reason for all this excitement was the 2023 Sant Joan Fiestas, which finally took place after the hiatus of local elections, along with an extensive face lift to the main village square, which for the past weeks has looked more like a massive archaeological dig.
Mancor de la Vall rarely makes an appearance amongst the pages of leading guide books, and is often missing from the various tomes written about our illustrious island, which happily keeps the village special, and jewel-like in Mallorca’s traditional crown.
A picturesque country road winds from Inca into the heart of our community, before climbing steadily onwards and upwards to the Sanctuari de Santa Llucía, offering a wonderful vista across the island from its lofty, parochial perch. With literally no passing traffic, Mancor de la Vall is indeed, by its geographical location alone, the very end of the road. To compensate for this, the locals excel at creating their own entertainment, with considerable and imaginative programmes rich in both culture and traditional activities. They just love their football and their art, in that precise order, and encourage all forms of opportunity for self expression and life enriching pursuits at every turn. Hence the recent fiesta excitement!
And what better way to kick off the celebrations than with an energetic, sponsored run around the village, before zipping off up the mountain on a challenging route, all in the aid of fund-raising for a heartfelt charity - the ‘Butterfly Children’, which raises euros, along with awareness, for a medical condition that few people have even heard of. Mancor de la Vall is a great supporter of this amazing charity and never misses an opportunity to profile an event for this worthy cause.
Epidermolysis Bullosa, also known as ‘Butterfly Skin’, is an extremely rare, congenital condition which causes painful blisters on the skin, usually, and sadly across the entire body, including inside the mouth, nasal passages and eyelids. The severity of this condition ranges from mild to lethal. Yet in all cases the blisters are extremely painful, and the skin is seen to be insufferably delicate and unbelievably fragile, like a butterfly’s wing, hence the name. In some cases, the skin is so delicate the slightest knock can cause the epidermis to flake, and literally fall off. There are actually four brave individuals here in Mallorca who live with this terrible, debilitating disease. Sweet children, delivered by the angels to a life of unprecedented suffering. There is no known cure, and as you can imagine, palliative care is extremely expensive.
Jaume Estrany, resident here in Mancor de la Vall, is now in his mid 20’s, and suffers a milder, yet still painfully serious form of the same disease. Jaume is an extremely positive young man and has never allowed this life changing condition to hold him back in his pursuit of enjoying life to the full. Can you imagine, just for one brief minute, what it must be like to spend your entire life with painful, blistered skin, hidden beneath protective wraps and bandages!
The amazing, generous community of Mancor de la Vall should be saluted for their continual generosity and compassion. And it just goes to show that fiestas aren’t always about over indulged partying, loud rock music and simply having a riotous good time. But also about showing true heart. And judging by the turnout for the ‘Butterfly’ run, this small yet special village of Mancor de la Vall has bucket loads of that, and more! Gracias, and Happy Fiestas, wherever you are!
Further information about the ‘Butterfly Children’ can be found at www.debra.es or the website of www.elitechip.net for any welcome charitable donations.