Xueta

Xueta, xuetó or chueta, is how inhabitants of the island of Mallorca used to call the descendants of the Jewish people who converted into Catholicism in the 14th century and on. The Chuetas are a minority on the Balearic island of Majorca (Mallorca) that are descended almost entirely from crypto-Jews, forced to convert in 1391 C.E. The term "chueta" literally translates to "pig" in Catalan, similar to the old Spanish (Castillian) term of the same meaning.

15 family names (such as Forteza), associated to those converts, have survived to our days, and they are still signalled as Xueta. Those families, even though converted into Catholicism, suffered from heavy racial and religious discrimation in the island, for example, not being able to marry non Xueta people, or not being able to be ordered priests.

From the 18th century on, since they were able to accumulate some degree of wealth, they began to exercise some pressure on the political authorities of the Spanish government, so they had their rights recognised as normal citizens. However the official status did not match real life. In the Spanish Parliament, the politician Antonio Maura was shouted "Let the Xueta shut up" just for being Mallorcan. Until the 1960's, no Xueta priest was allowed to celebrate Mass in the Palma cathedral. Around that time, the Jewish Agency offered migration to Israel to remaining Xuetas. 24 accepted, with 23 returning after some days in Israel. Although some remnants of discrimation still occur, being Xueta today is associated with the fact that you belong to some of the oldest families in Mallorca.

Today, they comprise a population of 20,000-25,000 on an island of 750,000; they have professed Catholicism for centuries but have only recently seen a lessening in ethnic tensions with ethnic Majorcans. According to some Orthodox Rabbis, the majority of Chuetas are probably Halakhically Jewish due to the low rate of intermarriage. According to Halakha, Jewish law, one is considered Jewish if one's Mother is considered to be. Only recently have intermarriages between the two groups been more prevalent.

During World War II, Nazi Germany is known to have pressured Majorcan religious authorities into surrendering the Chuetas, targeted because of their Jewish ancestry; religious authorities are reported to have ignored/declined the demand/request.

Several Chuetas are reported to have "reconverted" to Judaism, and some are known to work as Rabbis.

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Xueta".