BECAUSE Majorcans have been used to dressing up as demons and goblins over the centuries as part of their folkloric tradition, embracing the originally North American festival of Halloween is not proving difficult to them.
There's hardly a fortnight to go before the Catholic world, including Spain, celebrates the profoundly Christian Feast of All Saints but now a highly unconventional aspect is becoming a feature of the event, one where the art of disguise is king. Any excuse is good for dressing up, said Nico Groothuis, marketing director for Promotic, a company now in its fifth year in Palma specialising in prosthetics and a first hand witness to how the popularity of Halloween has taken off in the Mediterranean. Having worked with national theatre and film productions to produce battle and other screen fantasy, Groothuis claimed that at a time of crisis, people turn to having fun with dressing up and disguise.
In the not too distant future, he said, Halloween is going to become more important here than Carnival.