When we were kids

It was the 15^th century when a sculpture of the Veronica, the bearer of the relic of the Holy Face, arrived in Palma. It was installed in the Monastery of Santa Margarita, near today’s Military Museum. The relic was displayed to the public for three days: Palm Sunday, the Wednesday before Maundy Thursday and during the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Veronica inspired such devotion in Mallorcans that long queues formed in front of the monastery. Astute peddlers soon took advantage of this by setting up their stalls near the entrance to the cloister, offering visitors anything from cards stamped with religious pictures to dried fruit, siurells or greixoneres.

Over the years the stalls increased in number and eventually spilled out into part of what is now Calle San Miguel. It was at precisely this period that it became fashionable to give a gift of a siurell or some other form of entertainment to children, who from this point on, began to eagerly await the arrival of the Ram fair.

In the 19^th century the monastery was secularized and the nuns had to move to the convent of La Concepción, which meant the Ram went with them, now spreading out from Calle Concepción to today’s fountain of Las Tortugas. Some years later, as a result of the large crowds it attracted, Palma City Council decided to relocate the Fira del Ram to Plaza del Hospital. But space was in short supply here, so numerous stalls were set up in Las Ramblas.

It was in the late 19^th century that the first carousel arrived in Palma. Endless queues of children lined up, eager to ride a mechanical contraption for the first time in their lives. It was such a hit with the public that [...]

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