This weekend will see the biggest livestock fair on the island, in Garafía. San Antonio del Monte used to be a village, but the villagers moved away. About the only thing that’s left is the church of St. Anthony and the feast day, with it’s massive fair. Apart from the animals, there’s a craft fair, and of course lots of stalls selling cheap toys, food and drink. It’s a…
Corpus Christi is a smaller affair in San Jose (Breña Baja) than in Mazo, but it’s still beautiful. San Jose always celebrates Corpus Christi on the Sunday after Mazo’s celebration. Since the whole thing takes out on a flat, tarmaced street, the tradition is to make carpets of coloured salt, with the altars being much more modest. In recent years, many of the carpets are made from seeds and petals,…
Wednesday is Canary Day. It’s a big thing here. On Tuesday, most schools will have a party for the second half of the morning. They’ll serve traditional food (probably lots of gofio) and play traditional folk music. Some will have Canarian sports, like the Shepherd’s Leap. Schools and most shops will be shut on Wednesday. There’s a good chance that you’ll be able to catch a folk group performing somewhere.
Spain celebrates Father’s Day on March 19th, which is St. Jospeh’s Day (St. Joseph being Jesus’s earthly father.) So fathers will get gifts and charming, wobbly cards made at school. Since the Spanish name for St. Joseph is San José, the village of San José will be celebrating too (although the main fiesta is for St. Anne, in July). Although the 19th is Monday, most of the events happen over…
Here are some photos of the sardine’s funeral at El Llanito. As you can see, the sardine itself is much smaller than the one in Los Sauces, but I love those bee-stung lips! Unlike most places, the bier was carried by the sardine’s widows. Like most places, the widows were very tall and muscular. There’s a long tradition of political protest at carnival. This placard is in support of the…
Santa Cruz de La Palma’s funeral for the sardine is a comparatively quiet affair (note “comparatively” – I think more people went to the costume dance on Saturday). It was still fun. The procession started with two of the sardine’s widows (posh-looking transvestites) followed by the Batuka (serious percussion) and jugglers, a fire eaters and a man on stilts. Next came the sardine itself, hand-carried by about ten men in…