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Potaje de coles al estilo de Las Mercedes (Cabbage soup in the style of Las Mercedes)

The humble cabbage stars in this hearty soup

A hearty, traditional dish that is served in the homes of residents of Las Mercedes.

Ingredients: (for a large cauldron)

500 gr. soaked chickpeas
1 cabbage
3 carrots
2 potatoes
1 chorizo
1 piece of ham bone
200 gr. pork (lean, or rib)
100 gr. chicken
1 bay leaf
2 to 3 liters of water

For the sofrito

1 onion
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
1 teaspoon of cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil

Method:

Put all the ingredients in the cauldron; the soaked chickpeas, the cabbage (sliced), the peeled and whole potatoes, the carrots peeled and in 2 cm pieces, the chorizo (sliced), the ham bone, the pork meat, the chicken and the bay leaf. Covered with water and bring to the boil. Do not season at this point as the ham already adds salt. Cooking time depends on taste, but at least an hour.

Almost at the end of cooking, prepare a sofrito with the onion and the minced garlic, together with the cumin and olive oil. Before they are browned, add the sweet paprika to the pan, stir for a few seconds, without letting it burn, so that it does not become bitter. Add the sofrito to the stew and let the cooking finish.

Tenerife and the plague

Plague Doctor Mask

As in countless places discovered and conquered during the period of European colonial expansion, the Canary Islands were not immune to the arrival of pathogens totally unknown to them and for which their population did not have any defense. Plague, typhus, yellow fever, influenza and other communicable diseases ravaged them during and after the Castilian conquest. Here we refer to the different plague epidemics suffered by Tenerife since the conquest and subsequent centuries.


From 1513, when a ship reached the anchorage of Santa Cruz, nobody could go ashore without a health certificate. The History of Epidemics in Tenerife

The first outbreak of plague on our island took place in 1506, just 10 years after the conquest ended, when the disease spread freely in Spain. Although the island prepared as well as it could to try to protect itself, the arrival was inevitable and it did so by sea from Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, which, in turn, had been exposed by the ships that reached them and brought with them the pathogens that plagued the Peninsula. When the ports were closed it was too late and the disease spread rapidly throughout the island. This first outbreak would last two years and would especially affect the recently founded Santa Cruz de Tenerife and also La Laguna, where the sick were isolated in the Bufadero and San Andrés valleys. From this epidemic the first Lazaretto (quarantine station) of the city would be built, in 1512, in the area known as Puerto Caballo, located next to the port. One of the hardest hit areas was Anaga, where many Guanches still lived, who suffered the disease in a terrible way because they did not have any immune mechanism to protect them. The number of victims is unknown but it must have been very high.

The word "quarantine" originates from quarantena,
the Venetian language form, meaning "forty days"

Thereafter, various outbreaks of plague of greater or less virulence, alternating with long periods of famine and other major epidemics, would alter the life of the island until 1648, the year of the last epidemic of this disease. The most important of them all was, without any doubt, the one of 1582 that began in San Cristóbal de La laguna, later spreading over a large part of the island. This epidemic is considered in several historical-medical texts as one of the most serious outbreaks in relation to the number of inhabitants anywhere on the planet. Apparently it was caused by tapestries that brought the rat flea and that came from Flanders (hence this episode is also known as "the plague of Flanders"). It began around the Corpus Day of that year when the new governor of the Canary Islands hung them from the balconies giving rise to the development of the outbreak that in a couple of weeks had killed more than 2000 people in La Laguna alone. Such was the number of deceased that places had to be made available for new burials because there was no longer any space in churches (where they were usually buried at that time). It is calculated that the final balance of deaths was  between 7500 and 9000, only in what we now call the metropolitan area, which represented, more than half of the population of Santa Cruz and La Laguna together, a true demographic cataclysm. When the epidemic began to show signs of remission in the then capital of the Canary Islands, it was exacerbated in Santa Cruz, so a sanitary cordon, guarded by the army, had to be established around it to prevent further expansion. Our current capital, a small urban nucleus at that time, lost almost two thirds of its population. After a few months, as early as 1583, the disease was receding but its balance was terrifying and it would take Tenerife decades to recover from the tragedy.

Ermita de San Roque in Garachico
Paweł 'pbm' Szubert / CC BY-SA The origin of the temple is linked to an epidemic of bubonic plague that devastated Garachico between 1601 and 1606 (PDF).
The third outbreak in chronological order was that of 1601 that began in Garachico, a port of great importance at that time and in years to come until its destruction in May 1706 by the eruption of the Trevejo Volcano that would bury much of the city and all of its sea port. Its origin was a ship from Seville with infected merchandise. Soon the epidemic spread to the whole north of Tenerife, reaching Santa Cruz after a few weeks, where it was very severe. Curiously, La Laguna was not affected at all on this occasion. Once again a sanitary cordon was installed to isolate Santa Cruz and a death penalty was established for anyone who dared cross it. The final balance of victims is not known exactly, but it reached several thousand, causing a very large loss on an island that less than twenty years before, as we have seen previously, had lost almost half of its inhabitants.
The plague of 1601The disobedience of the crew of a ship from Seville was the cause of a new plague episode in Tenerife in 1601. Two boats arrived at the port of Garachico at that time from Seville. They were forbidden to enter, but one of them disobeyed. The disease did not take long to spread through the municipalities of Los Realejos, Icod, Los Silos and the port of Santa Cruz. From Tenerife, it spread to Gran Canaria and from there to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
The last date of the plague in Tenerife took place in the year 1648 and it affected again, although in a much less virulent way and without causing the terrible effects of the previous outbreaks, the area of Santa Cruz - La Laguna.

«La peste» (IV) «La peste» (III)«La peste» (II)«La peste» (I)

The History of Epidemics in Tenerife: Darwin and Freycinet's quarantines in Santa Cruz

HMS Beagle at Tierra del Fuego - Conrad Martens (1801 - 21 August 1878) / Public domain.
On 6 January it reached Tenerife in the Canary Islands, but was quarantined there because of cholera in England. Although tantalisingly near to the town of Santa Cruz, to Darwin's intense disappointment, they were denied landing. 

From 1513, when a ship reached the anchorage of Santa Cruz, nobody could go ashore without a health certificate. 

English and French scientific institutions carried out exploration and research campaigns in the new territories discovered in the Americas. Naturalists, geologists, draftsmen and painters traveled with the sailors who would provide important documentation on the natural history, ethnography and volcanology of the areas visited. For these maritime expeditions a stop off in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was required, for supplies; water, fresh fruits, live animals, fish, cured meats, cheeses and firewood. Tenerife was also considered an attractive scientific stop, due to its peculiar vegetation and volcanic nature.

CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN (1809-1882)

Charles Darwin
The scientist who would discover the evolution of species, revolutionizing traditional ideas about the origin of man, felt great attraction for the island of Tenerife, after having read in Humboldt's books what the tropical vegetation was like, the dragon tree of La Orotava, the volcanic mountains and the ascent to the Teide peak; therefore, he wanted to see for himself and began to learn the Spanish language.

Opportunity came in 1831, when, at the age of 21, Darwin received a letter from his friend Henslow, informing him that Captain Robert FitzRoy was looking for a volunteer to go as a naturalist, without any pay, on a scientific expedition of the British Admiralty, in which for five years they would carry out chronometric observations along the coasts of Patagonia, Tierra de Fuego, Chile, Peru and some Pacific islands.

"The consul declared we must perform a rigorous quarantine of twelve days. Those who have never experienced it can scarcely conceive what a gloom it cast on everyone ..." - First Sight of Tenerife
On December 27, 1831, Darwin set sail from Devonport aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, arriving at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on January 6, 1832. Just as the anchor hit bottom in the bay of the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a maritime health boat carrying the British Vice Consul, several quarantine officers and the doctor approached, who, after hearing where they came from, told them that it would be impossible to grant permission to disembark until they carried out a strict quarantine for twelve days, because they came from England where there was a cholera epidemic, sending them to stay in front of the Lazaretto.

The captain, in the face of this first failure of the expedition, when his geographers could not use Mount Teide to calculate longditude, nor use the coast for observations, shouted: "up the jib", raising anchor and setting sail for the Cape Verde Islands.
"We have left perhaps one of the most interesting places in the world, just at the moment when we were near enough for every object to create, without satisfying, our utmost curiosity."
Darwin's frustrated visit to Tenerife

LOUIS C. DE SAULCES DE FREYCINET (1779-1842)

Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet
The sailor, naturalist, geologist, geographer and botanist Louis de Freycinet left the port of Toulon (France) on September 17, 1817, in command of the corvette Uranie on a scientific expedition whose mission was to determine the shape of the terrestrial globe, study terrestrial magnetism, meteorology in the South Pacific, and collect materials for France's Natural History museums.

On their return they were shipwrecked near the Falkland Islands, losing the natural history material they had collected. They were eventually rescued by an American ship, the Mercury, which was flying the flag of the rebel colonists of Buenos Aires. The Mercury was first chartered and then, when at sea, purchased by, Louis de Freycinet, who renamed her La Physicienne, in which they arrived at the port of Cherbourg on November 13, 1820, after a long journey of more than three years.

From this moment on, Freycinet dedicated himself to the writing of his work: Journey around the World; which, in its Chapter I.- Quarantine in Tenerife, states: “We had barely entered the Atlantic Ocean when several of the crew found themselves unwell with general malaise and stomach aches. I attributed this state to the fairly cold rain that had fallen on the last day and to which many sailors were exposed, discomfort with which they continued even on October 22, 1817, when we reached the area of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The Canary Islands were not the Fortunate Islands for us, as entry to the city was relentlessly forbidden. This was what the health guard told us when he approached us at the maritime health station, as we were anchoring.

Although I tried to convince him that we were not plagued, we had to be quarantined, as Santa Cruz had just suffered an epidemic of yellow fever or black vomit that had caused 9,000 victims. At first they wanted to prescribe quarantine of twenty-five days, but they reduced it to eight. Therefore, while on board they took care of the shipment of water and the provisions of meat, wine, fruits and vegetables that this place could provide us, and as my intention was not to stay idle for so long, through the mediation of a man who claimed here the functions of French consul, I contacted the Spanish governor to allow me to make some observations of physics, authorizing me to do them without leaving the limits of the Lazaretto, which was south of the city.

Access to this establishment was difficult and dangerous, due to the force of the waves that break on the rocks of the coast where I landed from the launch that brought me closer to land, and the slope that I then had to climb until I reached the establishment, whose patio was full of rubble.

Seeing us arrive, the guard and the sentry backed away and threw the keys at us, gesturing to the doors that we had to open, because in this miserable building the rooms were closed. There were also rooms without frames in the windows, where you could protect yourself from the inclement weather.

The soldiers were housed in a shack, while in the guard corps there were only two old rifles and as many worn uniform suits, which each soldier wore when he had to make his round.

We learned from one of the sentries that most of the soldiers on the islands belong to the Canary Militias, people from different professions recruited from the population who renew themselves every four months. They never carry out maneuvers and they assured us that some of them have never seen gunpowder in their life.

In this place we stayed on October 25, 26 and 27, carrying out the magnetic experiments that were the object of our stopover. In the lands that surrounded the exterior, where pebbles marked the limits that we could not cross, we could observe that the inclination of the magnetized needle was 57º 58´ 49´´ and its declination of 21º 3´55´´ Northwest. We also collected several pieces of volcanic rocks, which seemed to contain a lot of iron.

To one of the sentries who stood guard with his gun on his shoulder, while he ate a ball of paste, which he kneaded with his hand, I asked:

-What are you eating, comrade? "Gofio."

-It's good? "Excellent, give it a try."

-It sticks to my palate!

-How much does your pay amount to? "To this meal."

-And money? "Never."

-So you don't have money?

"For 10 reales I would walk around the island."

-Would you accept this half piastre to drink to my health?

"It is too much, they are going to think that I have stolen it."

-Accept, please!

"Upon my faith, sir, I was afraid I would not hear you repeat your generous offer."

"A thousand thanks."

Freycinet's expedition left Tenerife on 28 October, at eleven am.

The visit of Louis de Freycinet to Tenerife

THE FORMALITY OF THE HEALTH VISIT

The 'health visit' was the first formality that, from 1513, was made to ships when they arrived at the anchorage of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as nobody could go ashore without the approval of the health certificate. To avoid possible contagions, the health card was placed on the end of a rod for the health guard to pick up, who checked it after passing it through vinegar, and allowed or prevented the disembarcation onto the island of people traveling on the boat. In the event that they were denied entry, and the captain chose to remain at anchor, they had to be quarantined in the Lazaretto (a quarantine station for maritime travellers) of Puerto Caballo, guarded and incommunicado. In 1523, the Cabildo agreed that in order to maintain the health of the town, 47 possible landing points on the island were guarded by two watchmen each with the mission of warning, with a code of smoke signals, the arrival of ships with a yellow flag; that is, carriers of epidemics. The Captain General of the Canary Islands, Marqués de Branciforte, demanded that the Cabildo pay a doctor to accompany the two deputies who were on the boat.

Las cuarentenas de Darwin y Freycinet en Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The Crosses of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Procesión de la Santa Cruz Fundacional Photo Jose Mesa Some Rights Reserved 

The official chronicler recalls the history of some of the oldest symbols of the capital of Tenerife, Santa Cruz (Holy Cross), which was founded in May of 1494. 

Cruz De La Fundación (Foundation Cross)

Foundation Cross in the Iglesia de la Concepción in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Koppchen / CC BY
Santa Cruz (Holy Cross) received it's name on May 3, 1494, after the Adelantado (governor of the region) Alonso Fernández de Lugo nailed a wooden cross to Añazo (the native name for the area) beach to celebrate the mass of thanksgiving for the foundation of the place and port of Santa Cruz.

There, close to the seashore, at the source of the Plaza de la Iglesia, the cross would endure rain, sun and sea until, in 1745, the then mayor asked the bishop for permission to enthrone it in a chapel that he had built in the Placeta de la Cruz, called the Santo Sudario (Holy Shroud). [Sudar means 'to sweat': is this where we get the word sweatshirt from and is a hoodie an 'unholy shroud' therefore?]

In 1794, however, the bishop allowed the demolition of the aforementioned chapel for the expansion of the slaughterhouse, whose income belonged to the parish, so the cross was placed next to the door of the hermitage of San Telmo until, in 1850, the Dominican friar Lorenzo Siverio, valuing what that ancient symbol represented, transferred it to the chapel of the Hospital de Nuestra Señora de Los Desamparados - Hospital Civil (now Museum of Nature and Archeology).

Map of Santa Cruz in 1701 shows the then location of the Foundation Cross

The inhabitants of Santa Cruz would not begin to feel great interest in the founding symbol until 1871, when then mayor, Emilio Serra y Ruz, had to initiate procedures so that its municipal ownership was recognised, since the parish didn't recognise the claims of the City Council; the Marina authorities alleged that it belonged to them, as San Telmo was the hermitage of the sailors; and the City Council of La Laguna also claimed it, claiming that it should be in its town hall, next to the civic banner, as it is a fundamental piece in the history of the island. Finally, on April 19, 1873, the Permanent Commission of the Deputation Provincial decided that the Cruz de la Conquista (Cross of the Conquest) belonged, in fact and by right, to the Municipality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

In 1892, seeing the lamentable state in which the venerated relic was found, the City Council agreed that it should be embedded in good wood and inserted into a reliquary of wood, nickel and glass, and that the coat of arms should be embossed on its upper part. Since then, its festivity began to be given an institutional character, and it remains in the Mother Church of La Concepción.

Cruz De Montañés (Montañés' Cross)

The Cruz de Montañés in the Plaza de la Pila (now Plaza de la Candelaria) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife
As Santa Cruz didn't then have a symbol by which it was known, Bartolomé Antonio Méndez Montañés, one of the most important merchants and shipping companies of the town at the time, commissioned, in 1759, the workshop of Salvador de Alcaraz y Valdés, of Malaga, a marble cross that worthily symbolized the name of the town and port.

The cross was placed in the upper part of the Plaza de la Pila (La Candelaria), on a tiered pedestal of the same material. At its base it read: “At the devotion and expense of Mr. Bartolomé Antonio Montañés, captain of strangers and trustee-representative of this port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Year of 1759 ”.

When the remodeling of the aforementioned plaza, then called La Constitución, was carried out in 1929, the marble cross was transferred to the Plaza de San Telmo, in the El Cabo neighborhood. With the opening of Calle Bravo Murillo and the consequent disappearance of Plaza de San Telmo, this sacred symbol would end up in its current location, next to the parish church of La Concepción, in the Plaza de la Iglesia, in a landscaped space, surrounded by a metal fence. There are those who consider that the Cruz de Montañés should return to its original place, in the Plaza de la Candelaria.

Cruz De San Agustín (Saint Augustin's Cross)

The Augustinian friars who accompanied the Castilians in 1494, established a hospice on the outskirts of the town, current Puerta Canseco and San Francisco de Paula streets, moving in 1744 to a wasteland in Toscal, located on the Camino Real that went to Paso Alto, where they founded a hospice, placing a large wooden cross on its facade to mark it.

What in principle was a humble foundation, soon acquired some relevance, receiving the support of the residents; for this reason, when in 1767 a Royal Provision abolished the hospice and the friars left for the convent that the Order had in La Laguna, the Cross was kept in a nearby place, being known as the Cruz de San Agustín neighborhood, where its residents on May 2 and 3, organized a very popular popular festival in which there were dances and nougat stands.

In 1908, the historian Felipe Miguel Poggi y Borsotto, on behalf of the neighborhood commission, asked the City Council to transfer a small plot to build a sanctuary for the Cruz de San Agustín, but the Commander of Engineers, Tomás Clavijo y Castillo, who had built his house on the site resulting from the demolition of the hospice, opposed it, because the said chapel would take away his enviable view of the bay.

When the Rodríguez López family built their mansion in the current street of La Marina nº 57, the cross went to the municipal warehouses, from where it was rescued by the Luz y Vida Association, in the neighborhood of El Toscal, and placed in a beautiful garden, very close to its original location, located at the confluence of the streets of La Marina and San Francisco, overlooking the gazebo of the architect Marrero Regalado.

La capital restaura la Cruz de San Agustín, en El Toscal (Image of the San Augustine Cross)

Cruz Verde (Green Cross)

Another historic cross survives in the city, which gives its name to Calle de la Cruz Verde, also known as Calle de las Tiendas (Street of the Shops), because in the 17th and 18th centuries it brought together most of Santa Cruz's commerce. Although this cross is related to Nelson's attack in 1797, since in that area fierce street fights took place in which the Tenerife militiamen harassed the English troops who had managed to disembark and were forced to take refuge in the nearby Dominican convent of La Consolación, current Guimerá Theater, and when the civic procession of July 25 arrived in front of the cross, the councilor who carried the banner of the City Council bowed in memory of the Tenerife defenders killed in that attempt, it is documented that in 1761 there was already a green cross, whose origin could be related to the stops that were made during the Via Crucis on Good Friday, between the parish of Our Lady of La Concepción and the church of San Francisco. The aforementioned wooden cross, painted green, was replaced by a marble one.

Tram stop at Cruz del Señor. Image: Josemarear / CC BY

Cruz Del Señor (The Lord's Cross)

At the confluence of the roads of San Sebastián (current Avenida de Bélgica) and the La Laguna road (Avda. Islas Canarias), in 1754 a cross was placed as a resting place for the funeral processions on their way to the cemetery, as it was customary that the coffin be carried on the shoulders from the deceased's home. It allowed time to say a prayer as well as to catch the breath and regain strength to continue the journey. In 1940, when the parish was created, the popular devotion to this humble cross was so strong in the neighborhood that the name prevailed over the official one of Santa Cruz and, it became the church of the Cruz del Señor (Cross of the Lord), in remembrance of it's origin.

Cruz De Santiago (St James' Cross)

Coat of Arms of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Image: Heralder / CC BY-SA
On the shield of the Muy Noble, Leal e Invicta Villa, Puerto y Plaza de Santa Cruz de Santiago de Tenerife (Very Noble, Loyal and Invicta Villa, Port and Place of Santa Cruz de Santiago de Tenerife - to give the city it's full title), awarded by Real Cédula on August 28, 1803, the red insignia of the Order of Santiago that appears behind the Founding cross, and that crosses the third lion's head, is due to the fact that on the day of the Apostle's festival, July 25, 1797, the English invaders under the command of Horacio Nelson were defeated by the Tenerife militias, Santiago being named compatron of this city.

As the Apostle is also the patron saint of the Cavalry, in 1968, the Captain of the Corps, Fernando Zerolo Davidson, had the initiative of making an 8-meter-tall Santiago Cross, made of galvanized steel and surrounded by a luminous thread, placing it on the high cliff, on the La Montaña de Altura de Paso Alto (Paso Alto mountain) in the Barrio de la Alegría. The monument was made and assembled by the soldiers who were taking the Professional Promotion course at the Regiment of Engineers in La Cuesta. The Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is in charge of carrying out its maintenance, and thanks to its lighting, residents and walkers can remember this historical legacy of the Tenerife capital and it is a reference to the passengers of the ships that visit.

Las cruces de Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Santa Cruz de Tenerife north dock with the Montaña de Paso Alto (right).
Image: CARLOS TEIXIDOR CADENAS / CC BY-SA

Tenerife in May 2020

Previous May Fiestas and Floral Crosses in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

May in Tenerife starts and ends with public holidays. Friday 1 May 2020 is Fiesta del Trabajo (Workers’ Day) and Saturday 30 May 2020 is Día de Canarias (Canaries Day), which is the anniversary of the first session of the Canary Islands' Parliament after the return of democracy in Spain, this year without celebrations.

Join in with the "Virtual Country Dance" taking place from people's homes on Saturday 2 May to celebrate the Fiestas de Mayo in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

May 3 Día de la Cruz (
Festival of the Crosses), in Santa Cruz, which also marks the founding of the city on that date in 1494, however, Santa Cruz de Tenerife council has announced that they have cancelled the events of Fiestas de la Cruz, with celebrations from balconies and homes being the only option this year.

Likewise, the Fiestas of the Crosses and Fireworks - the battle between the streets of El Sol and El Medio - that usually takes place on 3 May in Los Realejos, has been cancelled, due to the public health crisis, for the first time since 1976.

Puerto de la Cruz has also cancelled its Fiestas de la Cruz, usually celebrated on 3 May. This year it is 369 years, since 3 May 1651, when the city was able to appoint its own mayor, having been part of La Orotava until that time.

Arona too has taken the decision to cancel all festivities for the month of May.

Sunday 3 May is also Día de la Madre (Mother's Day).

May 5th is the anniversary of the eruption that destroyed Garachico's port.

One municipal holiday in San Isidro Labrador on 15 May in Santiago del Teide.

Also in Puerto de la Cruz, the celebration of the 'Canarian May', which was due to take place coinciding with Canary Islands Day on May 30, is also cancelled.


Cruces de flores (Santa Cruz de tenerife) 3 de mayo del 2018

Tenerife Land of Eternal Christmas

Sunbathing SantaDesert Island ChristmasScuba Diving SantaTropical Santa
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