Santanyí enters the central week of the 2026 Sant Jaume festivities

Santanyí moves into the busiest part of its summer festival

The first weekend of Sant Jaume 2026 formally opened the celebrations with the pregón, the inauguration of the exhibition devoted to Maria Suau and a series of initial cultural and festive activities. Santanyí is now approaching the days of greatest intensity, with the programme continuing until 2 August and bringing public life back into the streets of the municipality.

Mayor Maria Pons has highlighted the enthusiasm and effort behind this year’s organisation. She also expressed the hope that Sant Jaume would remain an opportunity to share moments of joy, health and coexistence. That emphasis is reflected in the structure of the programme, which is aimed at the municipality as a whole and gives space to different audiences rather than placing all the attention on a single event.

The festivities therefore sit at the intersection of several parts of Santanyí’s public life. Concerts and evening events provide the most visible occasions, but they are joined by exhibitions, local performances, sporting activities, traditional figures, family entertainment and acts linked to the patronal calendar. The result is a week that is presented not simply as an entertainment schedule, but as a shared municipal occasion:

Several details capture the scale and character of this edition:

A programme built around local identity

Sant Jaume’s identity in Santanyí is defined by the combination of tradition, culture, sport and family leisure. The municipality’s programme does not treat these as separate additions to a concert calendar. Instead, they appear alongside one another across the week, allowing the celebrations to move between the street, the sports ground, cultural spaces and the more formal moments of the patronal day.

The exhibition Maria Suau. La mirada figurativa. 1921–2006 formed part of the opening of the festivities, while the programme also includes the presentation of the winning works in the 2026 Vila de Santanyí Literary Awards. Another significant cultural strand is the central event for the Blai Bonet Year, organised to mark the centenary of the birth of the Santanyí poet. The opening activities were also accompanied by the pregón delivered by Francesc Xavier López Monserrat, as reported in a separate account of the start of the celebrations by Santanyí’s local festival coverage.

The organisers have also chosen an image with a direct link to local memory: a photograph of Sant Jaume from 1976. Its inclusion underlines the way the festival connects each new edition with the municipality’s collective past. The programme may change from year to year, but the image suggests that many of the celebrations remain recognisable because they continue to be associated with the same local calendar and public spaces.

The programme’s main strands can be summarised as follows:

• Traditional celebrations connected to Sant Jaume and the municipality’s established festive calendar.
• Cultural activity, including the Maria Suau exhibition, the Vila de Santanyí Literary Awards and the Blai Bonet centenary event.
• Sport and participatory activities, including the Mobyletada Santanyinera.
• Family and community leisure, extending the festivities beyond the largest evening concerts and verbenas.

Music leads the central week, but does not define it alone

Music becomes particularly prominent as the central week begins. Tuesday’s programme includes the traditional Pa amb oli a la fresca, organised by the local branch of the Spanish Association Against Cancer. On Wednesday, the Holi Party will give the young participants in the municipality’s DJ course an opportunity to provide the music for one of the programme’s most colourful events.

Thursday brings the main concert appointment, with Els Catarres scheduled to perform at the Camp Municipal d’Esports. The Catalan band is presented as one of the principal draws of the festivities and as one of the nights expected to attract the largest audience. The municipality has reserved free tickets for Santanyí residents, reinforcing the stated intention of keeping the event closely connected to local participation. The concert has also been highlighted in coverage of Els Catarres’ Santanyí performance.

The music programme continues beyond that performance. Verbenas, local groups, orchestras and DJs will occupy the evening schedule, making the nights of late July an important meeting point for the municipality. At the same time, the wider programme prevents the music from becoming the only measure of the festival’s importance. Its role is substantial, but it is placed alongside activities that take place during the day and events rooted in local tradition.

The central run of activities follows this sequence:

The full published programme runs across a longer period than the central week, beginning in mid-July and continuing into August. Its dated progression can be read as follows:

Friday and Saturday put tradition back in the streets

Friday 24 July and Saturday 25 July are the two days that most clearly express the traditional side of Sant Jaume in Santanyí. The Friday programme brings back the dimonis and caparrots, accompanied by xeremiers, as well as the traditional races de cintes. The Jaleo organised by the Amics dels Cavalls de Santanyí is another of the day’s established points of focus, before a large verbena at the Camp Municipal d’Esports.

Saturday, the feast day of Sant Jaume, carries a more explicitly symbolic weight. The solemn service in honour of the patron will be followed by the performance of La Balanguera, the appearance of the giants Bernat Cinclaus and Maria Ramis, the Ball de l’Oferta and a display of ball de bot. Together, these elements provide some of the most recognisable images of the local celebrations.

The day then moves between different forms of participation. The Mobyletada Santanyinera is scheduled for the afternoon, followed by the theatrical production Memòries d’un Citroën embruixat, performed by Pometes Teatre. The evening will conclude with the traditional fireworks display. This year, the display will use smaller calibres in an effort to reduce disturbance for both people and animals.

Memory and participation remain at the centre

The strongest thread running through the programme is the connection between participation and memory. The use of a 1976 photograph to promote the festivities makes that connection visible, while the cultural programme gives it a contemporary form through the Maria Suau exhibition, the literary awards and the Blai Bonet centenary events.

This balance also explains why the festival is not limited to its biggest night-time events. A concert can attract attention, but the programme’s wider structure includes activities that ask residents to take part as performers, organisers, participants or spectators. The young people involved in the municipal DJ course, the Amics dels Cavalls, Pometes Teatre and the local cultural initiatives all occupy different places within the same week.

The mayor’s message of shared enjoyment, health and coexistence sits within that broader design. It is a description of how the municipality wants the festivities to function: as a common meeting point with room for different ages, interests and forms of involvement. The published Sant Jaume programme for Santanyí reflects that mixture of concerts, verbenas, traditional acts, cultural events, sport and fireworks.

For readers following the central days, the key points are:

• The main musical sequence runs from Pa amb oli a la fresca and the Holi Party to the Els Catarres concert.
• Friday 24 July is centred on traditional street events, including dimonis, caparrots, xeremiers, races de cintes and the Jaleo.
• Saturday 25 July combines the patronal service with giants, traditional dance, theatre, the Mobyletada Santanyinera and fireworks.
• The programme continues beyond the central weekend, with the published festivities running through 2 August.

A central week that brings the municipality together

Santanyí’s big week is consequently defined less by one headline than by the way its different parts fit together. Music provides the most immediate public focus, but the festival’s local character is carried just as much by the traditional procession, the patronal ceremony, the giants, the dances, the cultural exhibitions and the activities created for participation across generations.

The central days will place those elements side by side: a major concert on Thursday, street traditions on Friday and the most symbolically charged programme on Saturday. After that weekend, Sant Jaume will continue into the beginning of August, preserving the connection between the main celebrations and the wider calendar of activities already under way.

What the published programme confirms

For Santanyí, the central week is therefore both a moment of heightened activity and a statement about the municipality’s identity. It brings the summer celebrations into their busiest phase while keeping the emphasis on local memory, shared public space and a programme broad enough to include more than one generation or interest.