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Travellers Chronicles Reveal Invisible History of Canary Islands Women

The chronicles of the travellers who visited the Canary Islands in the centuries XVIII and XIX have been helping investigators to uncover details of the daily life the women of the archipelago, who had surprised the foreigners with their beauty, but also by their ignorance, poverty and superstitions.

University professor and investigator in History of Education at the University of La Laguna, Teresa González, has investigated texts written by Elizabeth Murray, Piazzi Smyth, Olivia Stone, Verneau, Berthelot, Humboldt and others, to publish a book, "Las mujeres canarias en las crónicas de viajeros" (Canary Islands women in chronicles of travellers).

Outsiders' accounts have been an essential source of information about Canary Islands women in centuries past, about whom there are scarcely any historical accounts, because the past of the women of the islands is invisible: hidden.

González says it was interesting to observe how the travellers analysed Canarians from their European viewpoint. They value but also underestimate and, in some cases, ridicule the behaviour of the islanders. These travellers were mostly British, German and French and were of a "cultured class", with money, which made them look from a "position of superiority", analysing the island population as living in extreme poverty and intellectual misery. The chroniclers described people who were rough, but because they had been kept far away from knowledge. They particularly noticed that better off women were kept inside, infrequently going out into the street, unless accompanied.

Many of the travellers visiting La Laguna, La Orotava and Garachico in Tenerife, as well as Gran Canaria and Lanzaorte, spoke of empty streets and silence.

They also described scenes with peasant women laden with fruit and milk who went to market in groups, engaged in animated conversations, accompanied by children. English chronicler, Whitford's attention was drawn by the belief in witches, ghosts, apparitions and even curses, superstitions, which until recently pervaded among country women. (From my personal experience, I'd counter that these beliefs and rituals still exist in various, mostly, rural pockets.)

Many spoke of the moral order and in this respect, Brown confirmed that the morality of Canarian women was quite elevated, for instance if married they were almost always faithful, even when their husbands emigrated and they were left alone for a number of years. Single girls rarely had more than one boyfriend.

For Pegot-Ogier, the women of the Canary Islands were "uncultured, ignorant, had much less knowledge of the outside world than the men and were incapable of being the center of attention, despite their beauty".

Some travellers also spoke of how misery drove many island women to prostitute themselves in exchange for a few coins, mainly those who did not have a man to look after them. And there are stories of how women offered themselves to sailors or a group of thirty girls, accompanied by their old mothers, who begged insistently for "the favour of an intimate conversation".

La belleza y la miseria de las canarias sorprendía a los viajeros del siglo XVIII y XIX

Canary Islands Count Their Sheep

A couple of sheep on La Gomera

We hope these statistics don't put you to sleep, but you may be interested to know what other activities support the local economy, apart from tourism. Canary Island wines have been enjoying a renaissance in recent years and this is reflected by the fact that, in ten years, the area of the Canary Islands dedicated to the cultivation of vines grew by 7,648 hectares, from 11,277 in 1994 to 18,925 in 2004, an increase of around two-thirds, at 68%. In the same interval, the area designated for the cultivation of bananas increased by 1,138 hectares, while the area devoted to the cultivation of tomatoes decreased by the greatest amount, 1,898 hectares or 65 percent, from 4,830 in 1994 to 2,932 in 2004. Potato growing also dropped by more than a quarter in the ten years.

In 2004, the total cultivated area in the Canaries was 51,191 hectares, of which 37 percent (18,925) was utilized for vines, 19 percent for bananas, 11 percent for potatoes, 9 percent for fruit, 6 percent for tomatoes and 1 percent for ornamental plants and flowers. The remaining 17 percent had other types of crops. The figures, from the regional government's department of Agriculture, Farming and Food, also reflect increases in the areas of land dedicated to raising ornamental plants (170 hectares) and flowers (72 hectares), between 1994 and 2004.

Casting an eye over the livestock, the numbers indicate an overall increase of 35.2 percent. In 1994 the total head count was 363,450, while in 2004, this had risen by 128,141 to reach 491,591. By far, the greatest number are goats - all 326,807 of them - whose number increased by 42 percent, up from 228,723 in 1994. A quite different reality exists in pig farming, where the numbers have decreased by 13 percent, down to 69,653. Meanwhile, the number of cattle showed a slight (3 percent) increase to 21,118.

How many sheep? Their number has risen by the greatest amount, a 108 percent rise, in the ten year period, with 74,013 counted at the time of the study. 

Los Reyes Magos (Three Kings) Bearing Gifts

Arrival of a King in Garachico

The high-spot of the holiday season in Spain and the Canary Islands, for adults and children alike, is when the gifts arrive with Los Reyes Magos - The Three Kings - (this seems logical, if you follow the original story) on their camels. 

In case you've forgotten they are: Melchor: An old man with a white beard. His gift to Jesus is gold, representing his royalty; Gaspar: A swarthy skinned young man. His gift is incense, which represents Jesus' divinity and Baltasar: A black man. His gift to Jesus is myrrh, which represents his suffering and future death.

On the night of January 5th
, you should put water and straw out for the camels and leave your shoes in a prominent place before you go to bed, next to which The Kings will leave your gifts - if you've been good. If not, you may get coal! And you can buy little sacks of black-dyed honeycomb in the shops for your little rogues.

Their Majesties are received by Herod

Most towns have parades through the streets on the night of January 5, with the Three Wise Guys arriving from the Orient (or a nearby village in the hills) on camels or floats. They throw sweets into the crowd for the children (of all ages) to catch. In Santa Cruz these popular characters can fill a football stadium, where these modern monarchs arrive by helicopter. In ports, such as Los Cristianos, the last leg of their journey from the Orient was on one of the inter-island ferries.

Their Cabalgata in Garachico, Tenerife, was slated to begin at 7 p.m. (yes, but where the "caravan" began, on foot, way up in the mountains) and carried on until well after midnight. (Get there early for parking though.) Accompanied by what seemed to be the whole town's youth, many dressed as Roman soldiers - carrying out their duties VERY seriously indeed - Their Majesties are received by Herod at the entrance to the town by the Castle, before making progress along the main streets and culminating in a Regal Pageant in the town square.

Garachico Town Hall doubles as the Kings' Palace

Fireworks crackled, drummers drummed (loudly), a fanfare resounded to announce the arrival of the cavalcade ... As horses and camels speed into the arena - real close between the seating laid out for the audience!

After a live re-enactment of the entire Christmas Story, complete with real live donkey, goats, sheep and even a human baby ... (with all the amusement you'd expect from such unpredictable participants, just like any school nativity play, and only adds to the cuteness), the Kings address the crowd from the palace Town Hall balcony, then take their thrones to begin dishing out gifts to a long list of kids, not just from Garachico, but from all over the island and even abroad. 

In recent years there has been a change in the format of these events: the use of animals is mostly discontinued to prevent their exploitation, as was the distribution of gifts publicly, so that "all the children can participate on equal terms".

Before that, local children put on a delightful show and, just to make sure this doesn't become an entirely spoilt "commercial venture", a film reminds us all of less fortunate kids in Africa, Asia, South America and other parts of the world. Us (so-called) grown-ups were way too tired to hang around right to the very end.

The scene is set outside the Church of Los Angeles

Traditional to eat on January 6, is Roscón de Reyes, a "crown" or ring-shaped bread, decorated with "jewels" of glacé fruits, which contains surprise gifts and a supposedly unlucky bean somewhere inside.

The year's second largest Lottery, El Niño, is also drawn on this day. This creates a bit of excitement in the Canary Islands, because, historically, this has dropped more decent prizes on the islands than the Christmas draw.

With Epiphany being on January 6th, it seems that Spanish Christmas holidays go on forever, but this is THE BIG DAY when everyone will have time off to be with their family. Many in the tourist sector worked on Christmas Day.

Santa Claus, better known here as Papa Noel, has gained popularity in Spain, appearing alongside Los Reyes Magos and he may bring a few presents on Christmas Eve - the justification is that it gives the kids more time to enjoy their new toys whilst they still have school holidays to amuse themselves in. The custom in families on the 6th is you get taken around to see what everyone got (with adults naturally feigning much surprise), which is great because you get to play with everyone's toys! Now I must go and get some straw ...

Tenerife Land of Eternal Christmas

Sunbathing SantaDesert Island ChristmasScuba Diving SantaTropical Santa
Santa's Having a Whale of a TimeSurfing SantaWaterski SantaCamel Rodeo Santa
With a wide range of products in each design, click the pics (above) to see the full selections.