The Red House

The Red House, Mazo, La PalmaThe Red House, Mazo

La Palma’s embroidery museum is upstairs in the Red House in Mazo. (I’ll write about that in my next post.) Downstairs is a museum about the fiesta of Corpus Christi in Mazo. If you’re on La Palma for June 3rd next year, for goodness’ sake go and see it. If not, I strongly recommend the museum.

Some of the things used to make the Corpus Christi archwaysSome of the things used to make the Corpus Christi archways, and a block for chopping them up.

The fiesta is in honour of the Eucharist — the body of Christ. Every year since the 1950s, they’ve decorate the streets with spectacular archways and carpets covered with flowers, seeds and leaves, and small parts of these archways are in the museum. Well, when I say “small”, they’re a small percentage of the whole. The cross below is about four feet high, but the biggest archway is about ten metres (33ft) high.

Corpus Christi CrossCorpus Christi Cross

And below, you can see the details of the cross. It makes me wonder how many hours it took to do the whole thing.

Detail of the crossDetail of the cross

The museum is signposted from the main road through Mazo, and in any case, it’s a pretty distinctive building. It costs 2€ to get in (1.50€ for residents) and it’s open from 10 am to 2 pm Monday to Friday, and 11 am – 6 pm on Saturdays. Phone 922 428 587

A fish used to decorate an archwayA fish used to decorate an archway.

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