Xueta Christianity

Church of Montesión in Palma de Mallorca, the main Church of Chuetas of Majorca
Church of Saint Eulalia in Palma de Mallorca

Xueta Christianity (Catalan: cristianisme xueta) is a syncretic religion on the island of Majorca, Spain followed by the Xueta people, who are descendants of persecuted Jews who were converts to Christianity.[1] Traditionally, the church of Saint Eulalia and the church of Montesión (Mount Zion) in Palma de Mallorca have been used by the families of Jewish converts (Xuetas), and both are the centers of Xueta religious ritual life.[2][3][4][5] The Palma's Mont Zion Church was once the main synagogue of Palma de Mallorca.[6] It is estimated that there are roughly 20,000 Chuetas living on the island of Majorca today, and they practiced strict endogamy by marrying only within their own group.[7]

  1. ^ "El cristianismo judío de un chueta pobre". Monografias.com (in Spanish). 9 February 2003. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  2. ^ "The New Yorker reviving Jewish life on a holiday island". BBC. 18 August 2019.
  3. ^ ""A Dead Branch on the Tree of Israel" The Xuetas of Majorca". Commentary. 17 February 1957.
  4. ^ Moore, Kenneth (1976). Those of the Street - The Catholic-Jews of Mallorca: a Study in Urban Cultural Change. Michigan University Press. p. 46. ISBN 9780674037830.
  5. ^ Delamont, Sara (2002). Appetites and Identities: An Introduction to the Social Anthropology of Western Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 114. ISBN 9781134924745. The Xueta had their own church—St Eulalia's—in their barrio, with a Xueta priest, and their own cofraternity (the Cross of Calvary) to march in the Holy Week procession.
  6. ^ "'Xuetas' Return to Their Roots in Majorca". Tabletmag. 9 January 2023.
  7. ^ "The New Yorker reviving Jewish life on a holiday island". BBC. 18 August 2019.