Piñata Weekend in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The Piñata provides the finale to the party

Shrove Tuesday is the climax of carnival frivolities in the strictly religious sense and the Burial of the Sardine on Ash Wednesday was once intended to denote the end of hedonistic festivities and the beginning of Lent, but Carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife doesn't stop then ... as the Piñata Weekend provides a fitting finale. Although the live music of Daytime Carnaval is what's being promoted most about the final weekend of carnival in Santa Cruz these days, there are other events.

Coso Infantil - Children's Carnaval Parade

One I highly recommend is the Coso Infantil (Children's Carnaval Parade). It's like the big parade, but with lots of added cuteness. This used to be held on the Saturday, but once the Daytime Carnival had become established, it was moved to the Friday afternoon (from about 6 pm) so kids could enjoy both. 

Sábado de Piñata - Carnaval de Día

Sábado de Piñata (Saturday), in Santa Cruz the most important Carnaval de Día (Daytime Carnaval) in the world will be taking place. That might be because it's the only designated daytime carnival in the world - we haven't checked - but nevertheless an afternoon full of spectacular shows can be expected in the Plazas del Príncipe, La Candelaria and on the Avenida Anaga. 

Concurso de coches antiguos - Classic Cars

On the Sunday morning, is a Gran Concurso en la Ciudad de Automóviles Antiguos (Gathering of Vintage Cars), which meets at the Parque García Sanabria (see map) from 10 a.m. Then at mid-day, these beautiful old cars, with occupants in period costume, make a circuit of the city, through the streets of Numancia, Pilar, Plaza del Príncipe, Villalba Hervás, La Marina, Avenidas de Anaga and Marítima, ending at the Club Náutico de Tenerife (see map).

There are end of carnival parties and usually a fireworks finale on the Sunday.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival Queen 2009

Carnaval Queen in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 2009 Ana María Tavárez Mata

Carnaval Queen in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 2009 was Ana María Tavárez Mata, with a costume entitled "Embrujada" (Bewitched) designed by Leo Martínez and representing newspaper El Día.

The court was made up as follows:

1. 1st Maid of Honour: Raquel de Ara Carballo, with a costume entitled "Vuelvo de La Guaira en correíllo cargada de loros stop besos Concha" (I return from La Guaira in a Correíllo loaded with parrots, stop, kisses Concha), representing Centro Comercial Santa Cruz Carrefour and designed by Santi Castro.
2. 2nd Maid of Honour: Leonor Barreto Fuentes, with a costume entitled "Aria de amor" (Aria of love), representing Centro Comercial Meridiano and designed by Saliarca Creativos.
3. 3rd Maid of Honour: Gisela Dorta Melo, with a costume entitled "This is for you, I love you, Thank you", representing Centro Comercial Alcampo - La Laguna and designed by Juan Carlos Armas.
4. 4th Maid of Honour: Nuria Niebla Plasencia, with a costume entitled "Nirvana", representing Tranvía de Tenerife and designed by Santi Castro.

The theme of carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife was El cine de Terror (Horror Cinema). Known as "The Anti-crisis Carnival", the main stage at the The Tenerife International Centre for Trade Fairs and Congresses, was scaled back and completely flat, without sculpted or modelled elements. Its decoration was based on large format prints, with traditional motifs from the first horror movies. 

The Official Carnival song that year was "Chicharrero de Corazón", by the Murga Ni Pico Ni Corto, becoming the first song by a carnival group to be the official song for these fiestas, and which had a tremendous reception at the Gala of the Carnival Queen, being danced and sung by all the carnival troupes of Tenerife. The "Ave Satani" (satanic hymn from the horror movie The Omen, could be heard several times in the introduction to the gala. 

Coronación Reina del Carnaval de S/C de Tenerife 2009

Tenerife Carnival Dates for 2009

2009 Poster for Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival

A poster design was chosen early in 2008 for the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnaval 2009, which on it's own would not be monstrous news, but the report also announced the theme: El cine de terror (Horror Films). They were getting an unprecedented move on, as carnival is going to get "exterior promotion without precedents." With that prospect, we're sure the carnival will indeed be monstrous - as in huge. The design, chosen from among 111 entries, is by Gonzalo Luis Álvarez Fernández and entitled "Bailarina Monstruosa" (Monstrous Dancer).

Yes, we're fully aware that the poster depicts Herman Munster in a bra and tutu, with pink wings borrowed off a Christmas angel, but believe us when we tell you that such an outfit would be considered quite conservative at carnival!

Dates of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnaval 2009

• Election of the Carnival Queen on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
• Opening parade of carnival: Friday, February 20th, 2009
• Santa Cruz main parade on Shrove Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
• The Burial of the Sardine on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
• The final weekend, therefore falling on Saturday, February 28th, 2009 and Sunday, March 1st, when Santa Cruz Carnaval ends.

(Always providing that the authorities don't alter the dates or that the weather doesn't, but we can't be held responsible for these outside issues.)

Public Holidays in Tenerife 2009

Agenda

Public holidays in Tenerife, in 2009, are the following:

• 1 January, Año Nuevo (New Year's Day)
• 6 January, Epifanía del Señor (Epiphany / Three Kings Day)
• 2 February, Virgen de la Candelaria (Candlemas)
• 9 April, Jueves Santo (Easter Thursday)
• 10 April, Viernes Santo (Good Friday)
• 1 May, Fiesta del Trabajo (Labour Day)
• 30 May, Día de Canarias (Canaries Day)
• 15 August, Asunción de la Virgen (Assumption of the Virgin)
• 12 October, Fiesta Nacional de España (National Day of Spain)
• 7 December, (in lieu) Día de la Constitución (Constitution Day)
• 8 December, Inmaculada Concepción (Immaculate Conception)
• 25 December, Natividad del Señor (Christmas Day)

And as well as these 12 days established by law [1], there are also a further 2 days given each year as local holidays, which differ from one district to the next.

[1] That alone makes public holidays in Spain a different from Bank Holidays in the UK, where "There is no automatic right to time off on these days."

More information: Public holidays in the Canary Islands

Celebrating the New Year in Tenerife

Grapes growing in the backyard

On New Year's Eve, Nochevieja (which translates better to Old Year's Night), or San Silvestre as it is called in Spain, celebrations revolve around the eating of the grapes at midnight. The idea is to eat twelve Uvas de la Suerte ("lucky" grapes), one grape on each chime of the clock - all suitably, and necessarily, washed down with Cava: Spanish bubbly - a tradition that's believed to have come from the ancient wine-growers. One way to encourage consumption, I guess.

The New Year is heralded in Spain via the twelve chimes from the Puerta del Sol in Madrid: an hour later in the Canaries (actually, the same time as the UK) (confusingly, twice on TV, if you watch a Spanish channel and then a Canarian one) or locally, mostly with those of the Cabildo (Island Corporation) in Santa Cruz in Tenerife or their counterpart in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 

New Year's Eve is a night for going out. Right after the chimes, there will usually be fireworks and in many places, there will be a street-party with dancing to a Salsa band or a disco. Another custom, or superstition, but even those who aren't superstitious will probably observe it "just in case", is to wear new clothes for this party, which symbolises starting the year from scratch. You should also wear red underwear because it's the colour of happiness and good luck.

In Santa Cruz, the Plaza de España will be packed with people and atmosphere if you're looking for fun, as will the church square in Los Cristianos, in the south.

But most large and even small towns have New Years' parties. In Garachico, we've danced to an open air disco (yeah, Jan 1 in the open air, at night, te he) in the town square in front of the bandstand and watched the fireworks set off from the Town Hall roof. There were "party bags" (consisting of silly hat, noise makers and packet of grapes) laid on for anyone who turned up. And you get to keep company with the big fish in these small ponds, as the Mayor was host.

Santa Cruz Changes Names of City Streets

Rambla de Santa Cruz, formerly Rambla del General Franco Koppchen, CC BY 3.0

Street names are changing this week, after the mayor signed a decree changing the names of eight (out of more than 100) of the streets with names that had something to do with the Franco era, in accordance with the Ley de la Memoria Histórica (Historical Memory Law.) The names that changed are as follows:

Old Street Name	New Street Name	Translation
Rambla del General Franco	Rambla de Santa Cruz	Holy Cross Way
Avenida José Antonio	Avenida Marítima	Maritime Avenue
Avenida del General Mola	Avenida Islas Canarias	Canary Islands Avenue
Calle General Moscardó	Calle Del Amor	Love Street
Calle General Goded	Calle Del Perdón	Forgiveness Street
Calle General Fanjul	Calle Del Olvido	Forgetfulness Street
Calle General Sanjurjo	Calle De los Sueños	Dreams Street
Calle García Morato	Calle De la Tolerancia	Tolerance Street

The new names have been chosen partly in consultation with residents, but we can't help thinking that the choice of the last five of those street names isn't, entirely random or accidental. There are, of course, numerous opinions on this. There are those who think that changing the names is actually sweeping the bad stuff under the carpet: that once gone, this ugly history will be forgot.

Things to do in Tenerife when it rains

“When it what?!” I hear you cry…well yes, it can and does sometimes rain in Tenerife. Hugely inconvenient for anyone on holiday here at the time, but essential to agriculture, mains water supplies, health and sanitation, in fact the on-going survival of the island.

Of course, here in the ‘north’ we’re perfectly okay with rain; we see it as the ingredient that provides us with our beautiful tropical vegetation and consider the few occasions when we get whole days or even a whole week of rain as a small price to pay for our surroundings.

It’s said that Tenerife has one bad month of weather a year and it’s just a question of waiting to see which month that will be. But this year, it’s proving to be a November/December crossover and is teetering on the edge of being more than a month.

Given the appalling summer that Britain has just experienced and the continued downturn in the value of the pound, this unusual spell of ‘poor’ weather has led to an unfortunate set of circumstances. Many hundreds of Brits are finding themselves with two weeks in one of Tenerife’s southern resorts with no sun and a great deal of time on their hands. Naturally, the tendency is therefore to spend more time in bars, cafes and restaurants parting with more of their significantly reduced euros than they would normally do, and has in turn led to many people complaining that there’s nothing to do in Tenerife without the sun and that it’s far more expensive than it used to be.

Well, here’s a simple and cost-effective solution to the whole question of what to do in Tenerife when it rains…

Get out of your resort and explore.
 
There are endless possibilities of places to see and things to do that will cost you a fraction of what you’ll spend by killing time in resort bars.

Other than the cost of getting there, exploring Tenerife’s fascinating landscape and historic towns doesn’t have to cost a céntimo if you don’t want it to. But by leaving your resort, you’re automatically increasing the value of your euro anyway, so lunch, a cold beer, a coffee, soft drinks, ice cream all cost considerably less around the island.

There are some excellent museums on Tenerife. Not the sort that house exhibits gathering dust that will threaten a revolt from your offspring the moment the front door looms into sight, these are positive fun houses! Like the Museum of Science and the Cosmos in La Laguna which has hundreds of wonderful scientific puzzles to play with including lifting a Mini with just one hand, getting lost in the mirror maze and casting shadows on a wall that stay there after you’ve moved.

Then there’s the Museum of Man & Nature in Santa Cruz with its morbid collection of Guanche mummies, or the Military Museum in Santa Cruz in a working barracks which has a scale reproduction of Nelson’s unsuccessful attack on Santa Cruz amongst its arsenal of military paraphernalia.

And if you go on a Sunday, every museum has free entrance.

To make things really easy for you, the brand new ‘Going Native in Tenerife’ guide gives you a comprehensive insight into 38 different towns and villages across Tenerife and tells you the best bits to see and the best places to eat. Along with local food, best-buys and a guide to the island’s many colourful fiestas, ‘Going Native in Tenerife’ will tempt you to get out and discover some of the beautiful places that exist on Tenerife.

Make your holiday go further; see the island and save money while you’re doing it, then come back and tell me there’s nothing to do on Tenerife when it rains!