Feast Day 21 October
Martyred 385
The Feast of the Virgins commemorates the martyrdom of St. Ursula, according to
legend the daughter of an English king, and 1100 virgins in 300 A.D. (historians
believe that this figure may have been inflated by the addition of two noughts!).
Although not a Mallorcan patron saint, it was once traditional to serenade the
virgins, on the evening before the saint's day, by playing a guitar or singing
in the street outside their houses. The young men were then invited inside and
given a glass of wine and a buñuelo - rather like a small doughnut, sprinkled
with sugar.
Over time, the simple buñuelo was refined to include cream or custard and even
covered with chocolate sauce, so that it came to resemble a profiterole.
Cream-filled buñuelos are on sale at bakeries throughout the month of October,
prior to the Feast of the Virgins. In Palma, as well as in the towns and villages
of the Island, it is common to find buñuelo stalls springing up in the streets and
markets to mark the occasion, and these are more likely to provide the real thing.
Traditional Recipe for buñuelos