During the dark months of the year we tend to be much more receptive to candle light, storytelling and cherished memories. Yet December is a rather busy month for most of us, as if everything needed to be finished before the end of the year. So instead of rushing home at night try to slow down and enjoy the beautiful things Palma has in store for us these days.

Take a few minutes to join the children circling the puppet player on Carrer de Sant Miquel. Nacho, who is also a brilliant musician, has been playing string puppets in the streets for years. His marionettes never fail to enchant their audience. I always watch when Adolfo „Fito“ Cabrales is performing Rojitas las orejas. Rock star that he is, he loves to stagedive and flirt with the little girls and boys in the first row. Their shining eyes are probably the greatest reward for any artist and belong to the most captivating moments of the show.

Or stop by Plaça Major. I am not really a fan of this rather touristy spot but with its wide starry canopy it looks like one of the most magnificient places in town. And actually there are a few stands on the Christmas market that are surely worth a visit. A fascinating, colorful world of countless artisan professions with all their equipment. Miniature models of traditional Mallorcan crafts- and tradespeople with their animals, tools or produce, shoes, handblown glass, sobrassadas, ensaimadas, cocas, ceramic tiles – small-size versions of virtually everything from the island you can possibly imagine. The displays somehow remind me of Peter Bruegel paintings or photographs from Andreas Gursky.

Have you ever noticed the caganer among the crib fugurines? The strange crouching figure with its pants down, emptying its bowels? The caganer, Catalan for someone who shits, is meant to be a symbol of fertility and the cycle of nature. Traditionally he is put in the vicinity of the crib of Jesus as a lucky charm. Pretty weird. All the more since it has become fashionable to introduce caganers that look like popular athletes or politicians. No wonder Spanish kids always look for this figurine first when they see a crib.