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The Big Spanish Fiesta Yesterday

15 years ago

Yesterday, July 15, was one of the main summer local fiestas here in Puerto de la Cruz.

The day when the fishermen honour their patrons, the Virgen del Carmen and San Telmo.

It's an amazing spectacle of emotion, tears, splashing water, horns, music and exultation.

As the procession nears the water the crowds sing and clap and music from a loudspeaker nearly drowns out the sound of splashing.

The crowd downtown yesterday.

After a religious church ceremony, the fishermen carry the statues of their patrons on their shoulders down to the edge of the water at the fishermens' harbour, and place them on little decorated boats for a sail around the bay. The local people and especially the younger Canarians are waiting in the water, where they begin splashing and shouting at a fever pitch. The fishermen, and especially the ones carrying the effigies are dressed in white with blue sailor collars. Their emotions and those of the people in the crowd begin to surface and tears flow as their Virgen is taken down to bless the waters on which they will sail during the coming year.

The bearers carrying the statue of the Virgen del Carmen.

I was considering going down there with a camera to record the event but was cautioned that it would be safer to stay and watch it on TV as anyone in the town was automatically drenched with water pistols and buckets of water, as it was a hot day and after all, it was a fiesta of water. So I stayed home, avoiding the crowds and extreme heat and just took a couple of images from the TV.

Images of the Virgen del Carmen (left) and San Telmo (right) being carried on the shoulders of the fishermen.

Watch the little video of last year's event on You Tube.....this unbelievable fiesta is the same every year!

Best seen full screen, by a click at the bottom right corner of the image.

A Tenerife English website explanation of the fiesta

Here's a good Video from last year's event.

And here'san excellent photo slideshow also from last year, photographed by Luis Miguel Parra and seen on his PBase website.

One important event which I'm sorry I missed as I didn't know about it ....also in July (I'll go next year) is the annual bathing of the goats!

The local goat herders, following an old custom, bring their goats down to this same harbour and push them in the water for their annual bath!

Apparently quite a site as the reluctant goats are coaxed into the sea!

Here's a humorous report with photos.

SharonCb

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Comments (8)

dedtired
15 years ago
Bathing of the goats? I guess people on Tenerife (Tenerifites??) have a lot of time on their hands.

Seriously it looks like quite a festive event, though I think you were wise to avoid the crowds.

So -- they bless the water and then wash goats in it?

When is the festival where they make the sand drawings? I was very impressed by that. Thanks for another peek into life on the Canary Islands, Sharon. (So maybe they are Canaries?)
canarybird01
Original Author
15 years ago
Lol Pam......The locals are called Tenerifenos .....ten-ay-reef-ain-yows (there's a tilde over the "n" but sometimes the code will corrupt the word so I leave it out here.) And the Spanish word for local islanders is "Canarios". Actually the goats are washed earlier on ....like a couple of weeks before they bless the water. The custom is very old and it is thought that the herders brought their goats once a year to the shore to give them a once a year cleanup to get rid of bugs or other nasties in their fur lol.

The blessing is a sort of insurance for the fishermen that they will always return home safely in their boats.

The sand carpets were in June and I didn't get up there to see them this year, although I saw photos in the newspapers.
I'm still working on editing my last year's photos of them making up the flower carpets in the streets, which are also done at the same time as the sand carpets.

Here are a few of the first photos that I've cropped and resized from that early morning I went up into that town to watch the artists working with their fresh flower petals. The air was perfumed and it was quite surreal.

SharonCb
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BeverlyAL
15 years ago
Oh wow, what a big to-do Sharon. The Spanish are especially emotional aren't they.
petaloid
15 years ago
I had never heard of this celebration. Thank you for sharing the background, photos, links and all -- fascinating!
dlundin
15 years ago
Sharon, I read the guy's blog about walking on the hot black sand... priceless!
triciae
15 years ago
Very fun, Sharon! I love traditions such as this festival. The flower petal painting are beautiful...why doesn't the wind blow them away?

We have an annual Blessing Of The Fleet festival here in Stonington Harbor (Mystic is part of Stonington), CT every year. It's next weekend. There's a heavy Portuguese influence & the foods are wonderful.

The festival begins with the Blessing of the Fleet & throwing wreaths of fresh flowers into the water for those who've been lost at sea. Boats (both fishing & recreational) come from miles around for the Blessing. We take our boat over.

Then, there's a parade. There are dozens of street vendors offering food & drink. Always live bands & dancing in the streets. Many people dress in Portuguese costumes. The crowds are huge so we don't dock...we watch the festivities from the boat for awhile & head back to home port (about 3 nautical miles) after the Blessing.

I'll try to get some pictures next weekend of our Blessing.

/tricia
jimtex
15 years ago
Sharon you take the cake here for living in the most interesting and exotic (to me) place. It's home for you but it's a wonderland to me. Please keep the pictures and events coming.
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canarybird01
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks all for your comments.

Beverly, yes I was very surprised to see the emotions displayed there by the fishermen and their families...seen on TV...as they wept and hugged each other while the images were carried into the sea.

Diana...the one thing you learn very quickly here is that black sand is burning hot on a sunny day, and impossible to cross with bare feet lol!

Tricia....I'm looking forward to your photos of the celebration there. San Telmo is the patron saint of both Spanish and Portuguese fishermen so there are certainly similarities in this event. The flower petal carpets are made in the morning and walked on by the church procession in the evening of the same day, after which they are swept away, so there is no time for wind to disturb them.

Thank you James....yes there are so many unique and interesting event celebrations that take place here. And the striking thing to me as a Canadian is that the beliefs are so firmly inrooted and the emotions are so sincere when the people here are celebrating their fiestas. There is no halfway involvement....they are fervent followers of their traditions.

I'm nearly finished working on the photos of the flower carpets from last year. And I have a couple of videos with music showing the preparations. I'll be posting them soon.
Here's another one that I like:

SharonCb

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