Climb from Sóller to Lluc with bisties

This colcada, which in 2019 reached its fortieth edition, is organized by the Association of Hikers with Bísties de Sóller with the support of the town council

The participants make the climb on Saturday, stay overnight in Lluc and return to Sóller the next day. About a hundred people participate, who make the journey by bisteria from Sóller or Fornalutx to the sanctuary of Lluc. Most choose to climb on the back of animals (horse, mare, mule or donkey) along the old cobbled path of the Barranc de Biniaraix or through S’Arrom and the houses of l’Ofre, while others do so by cart along the Puigmajor road (Ma-10). All of them are located at the Noguer spring, near the Pla de Cúber, and continue together to Lluc along the same Ma-10 road. The next day, Sunday, they began the descent towards Sóller.

On Saturday, mid-morning snack at the Noguer fountain and brotherhood dinner in Lluc.

Lluc is the most important Marian sanctuary in Mallorca, the temple of the Virgin of Luke, patron saint of the island. It is a place full of spiritual and community significance, the center of island hiking and today an important tourist destination. Its origins must be traced back to the thirteenth century. The most important extension was made at the beginning of the twentieth century, under the impetus of Bishop Campins and the architect Antoni Gaudí; Father Joaquim Rosselló, founder of the congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts, who ran the sanctuary between 1891 and 2019, when the sanctuary passed into the hands of the Bishopric of Mallorca, was prior. The space is structured around the Pilgrims’ Square, where we admire the Porches (sixteenth century), and has as its center the basilica (seventeenth century), in Renaissance style, with the Gothic image of the Virgin of Luke, which enjoys great popular devotion.

– Path of the Mysteries. Cobbled processional path dedicated to the Mysteries of the Rosary, which leads to the large cross located at the top of the hill, also known as the Mysteries, and which constitutes a beautiful viewpoint of the region. It is the point where tradition places the finding of the image of the Virgin of Luke. We admire five large monuments with three bronze medallions each, the work of the sculptor Josep Llimona. This access was opened at the beginning of the twentieth century.
-Botanical garden. Founded in 1956, it has more than two hundred species of mountain flora, especially from the Tramuntana mountain range.
-Joys. Linked to this pilgrimage, it is worth mentioning the seven boundary crosses (popularly called goigs) that once lined the Camí Vell de Lluc, and which allude to the Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary. Today, only two are preserved: one, from the fifteenth century, can be admired in the Plaça dels Pelegrins itself, and the other, from the seventeenth century, in the neighbouring square of Ca s’Amitger.

Joys to the Virgin of Lluc

Anonymous letter, seventeenth century

 

For we receive so many favors

by your holy figure,

give us pure Virgin Lluc,

that in heaven we enjoy You.

 

The name of Lluc suits you

to be a notorious thing

that Lluc was also called

who found you, as the story goes.

Ray of light of great ardour

came out of the thickness:

give us pure Virgin Lluc,

that in heaven we enjoy You.

 

Trusting in You, Madame,

the captives have freedom,

The Sailors of Every Hour

escape from the storm.

Put in a dangerous step,

Your light assures them:

give us pure Virgin Lluc,

that in heaven we enjoy You.

 

For past pains

black you are in figure.

Give us pure Virgin Lluc,

that in heaven we enjoy You.