All hell is loose on Mallorca. Costumed residents are currently roaming the streets of the Spanish holiday island. Not carnival is the reason, but the celebrations in honor of Saint Anthony.

"Sant Antoni" was celebrated on Tuesday. Hundreds of people flocked to the so-called Dimonis dance on Monday evening. For the first time since a two-year Corona break, there was a boisterous celebration.

Unofficially, the wild hustle and bustle has been going on in some places for days. "It's crazy," shouted the people of Manacor, according to the newspaper "Diario de Mallorca". On the overcrowded main squares of about 30 towns and villages on the island, the Mallorcans will be partying for days and dancing to the music of the bands with people dressed as devils. Among other things, dogs, cats, turtles and whole flocks of sheep are blessed, because the monk Antonius Abbas was considered the patron saint of animals.

The "Sant Antoni" strongholds are Sa Pobla in the north and Manacor and Artà in the east of the island. There was something new in Manacor this year: for the first time in Mallorca, a woman was allowed to dress up as a devil.

The background to the curious spectacle is a tradition. According to this, Abbas lived in Egypt in the third century AD. He came from a wealthy family, but legend has it that he sold his belongings at the age of 20 and moved to the desert to live ascetically with many animals. It is said that Satan appeared to him several times in his hermitage, tormenting him and wanting to tempt him.