Most places in Spain end Carnival with a funeral for a sardine. It’s like being inside a Monty Python sketch, with the crowd dressed in black (some tarty, some elegant) and screeching with fake grief. “WAUUUGH! She’s dead!” The whole thing’s deliciously bonkers. This bizarre finale to Carnival was traditionally held on Ash Wednesday, but most places on La Palma hold it at the weekend, so people don’t have to…
The exterior of the church of San Juan, Puntallana As Palmeran churches go, the church of St. John the Baptist in Puntallana isn’t all that old. The presbytery and the side chapels date from the 16th century, and the nave from the 1719. It was officially declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (rather like a listed building) in 1994. The main altar in the church of San Juan, Puntallana The…
Most villages on La Palma have an annual fiesta in honour of their patron saint. (They’ve all got patron saints) Most weeks in summer see a fiesta somewhere or other, and this weekend it’ll be Puntallana, in honour of St John the Baptist. On Saturday there’s a livestock fair from 10 am to 5:50 pm, the usual farmer’s market from 10 am to 2 pm, bouncy castles and other kids’…
Puntallana originally grew around the spring of St John the Baptist (San Juan). Today,the spring is still there, but it’s nobody’s drinking water (which is a good thing, seeing as the water’s green.) Still, it’s a peaceful spot to visit, and they still hold a yearly procession where they take the statue of the village’s patron saint, St John the Baptist, to the spring to give thanks for the water….
How many funerals can you hold for a sardine? On La Palma, at least five. Los Llanos and Santa Cruz have already held theirs, but Puntalllana’s is on Friday night at 10 pm, and it’s got a 1960s theme. Public dance afterwards. The most famous sardine’s funeral on the island is at Los Sauces. This year it will be on Saturday 19th, with batucada (serious percussion) at 8 pm, drag…
Tourists sometimes go nuts trying to find the village of Breña Baja, or Fuencaliente. There’s a really simple reason why they can’t find them. They don’t exist. Breña Baja and Fuencaliente are municipalities, and their town halls are in the villages of San Jose and Los Canarios, respectively. It like driving all over the south east of England, looking for the town of Sussex. The map shows the 14 municipalities…