Corazones de Tejina - The Hearts of Tejina

Corazones de Tejina

On a Sunday close to 24th August, in Tejina - the village is a district of La Laguna - (see map) holds the Corazones de Tejina, part of their annual Fiestas de San Bartolomé, which has been described as "One of Tenerife’s ‘quirky’ fiestas with three beautiful, giant hearts made from fruit and pastries depicting local life and scenes being paraded through the towns streets before they are erected outside of the church and abused by the creators of the other hearts."

 
Corazones de Tejina (The Hearts of Tejina) takes place on the Sunday closest to 24 August. This is one of the most brightly coloured and striking traditions on the island, which is why the residents are so keen to keep it alive. The three main neighbourhoods in the town (El Pico, Calle Arriba and Calle Abajo) bring out the hearts that they have been working on for days. Once raised, an entertaining ritual begins in which each neighbourhood tauntingly mocks the others' hearts.

05/09/15 Vivir en Canarias "Fiestas de Tejina"

Romería de San Roque in Garachico

Romería de San Roque in Garachico

Every year thousands of visitors gather in Garachico to participate in one of the most popular and traditional festivals on the island, first held in the 17th century and described as, "Garachico’s most important annual festival when the town fills with pilgrims (and partygoers) from throughout the island. San Roque (Saint Roch), the town’s patron, was credited with saving the town from the Black Death, which arrived in 1601." As tradition marks, at 8:00 a.m. the town will wake up with the 'Viva San Roquito', thanks to the Garachico Musical Group. 

The Romería (Pilgrimage and festivities of San Roque (Garachico), which in 2006 attracted around 30,000, is held annually on 16th August (irrespective of day of the week), from around 2pm. The figure of the Saint is earlier taken from the Ermita de San Roque to the church of Santa Ana, in the town centre and after a religious service, is taken back to its hermitage, accompanied in procession by the municipal band, carts, flocks of goats and other festively bedecked animals, and musical groups (rondallas and parrandas). The fishermen of Garachico hold a sea-going procession, their boats forming part of the Saint's entourage along the coast. The traditional pilgrimage dance is held in the Plaza de San Roque.

And you probably need to try The famous Sangría of San Roque.

Romería de San Roquito Villa y Puerto de Garachico Tenerife

Discovery of the Virgin of Candelaria

Ceremony of the Discovery of the Virgin of Candelaria. Image: Candelaria Town Hall

August 15th, Assumption, is celebrated in the town of Candelaria where the patron of the Canary Islands, Nuestra Señora de Candelaria (The Virgin of Candelaria or Our Lady of Candelaria) resides in her Basilica of Candelaria. 

Many thousands make a pilgrimage to the basilica each year - the town usually expects around 200,000 visitors on August 14th and 15th, principle days of the celebrations - and the actual veneration takes the form of processions and floral offerings (Romería y Ofrenda Floral - Virgen de Candelaria), but the most popular part of the annual celebrations is the re-enactment or ceremony of the discovery of the figure, which takes place in the Plaza outside the Basilica on 14th August from around 7:30pm. This more than 200 year old re-enactment ceremony is very popular, so be advised to expect total bedlam.

The invocation of the Virgen de la Candelaria or Our Lady of Candelaria had its origin in Tenerife. According to tradition - a legend recorded by Alonso de Espinosa in 1594 - the Virgin appeared, bearing a child in one hand and a candle in the other (hence "Candelaria") on the beach of Chimisay (Güímar), in 1392, long before the Castilian conquest of the island, to two Guanche goatherds. 

When they reached the mouth of a cave, their herd did not advance. One of the shepherds came forward to see what was happening and saw a small wooden image of a woman, about a meter high[1]. It is said that one of the men tried to throw a stone at the statue, but his arm became paralyzed; the other tried to stab the statue with a knife but ended up stabbing himself. The statue was taken by the local Guanche Mencey, Acaymo, to the cave of Chinguaro. 

Later, this devotion spread and is now celebrated in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Uruguay & Venezuela. 

[1] It has long been speculated that what the herdsmen actually found was the figurehead of a ship that had washed ashore, but the original has long since been lost - stories include it being washed out to sea in a flood - so it conveniently cannot be verified. We’ll probably never know if this Madonna was washed up on the beach in Tenerife by the hand of God or by conniving Spaniards.

Legend and appearance

Garachico tyre burning fiesta 2015

Garachico tyre burning fiesta 2015

We have Joanne Waiting to thank for highlighting this event. Of course it isn't really called the Garachico tyre burning fiesta, which she coined, but we think it's a brilliantly descriptive, attention grabbing title and don't understand why that isn't yet official. Actually called the Fuegos del Risco (Cliff Face Fires), which, as is explained in this article in El Dia, Una erupción festiva cada cinco años, these have evolved from pineapples in wooden barrels through dried corncobs soaked in petrol and diesel; sackcloth balls and, yes, on occasion, burning tyres. 

They point out that a small group of people is responsible for setting the lava slopes of Garachico aglow once again at a point close to where the ancient port was located. With logistical support from the town council, they reactivate the fury of the Trevejo volcano (or Montaña Negra - Black Mountain), which destroyed the port of Garachico in 1706, with the help of fireworks and glowing balls rolling down the slope. In the dark of night, the incandescent objects falling down the hillside recreate the effect of a volcanic eruption.

It promises to be spectacular on Sunday night, 2nd August at 10pm. But get there early, because last time, in 2010, it drew a crowd of 35,000.  

What I don't understand is why this is celebrated every 5 years on the 0s and 5s, when the volcanic eruption was in 1706 - it can never fall on an anniversary - or why it takes place in August, as the eruption was in May. No doubt someone has an explanation for these seeming anomalies, but does it matter? Do you need a valid excuse to "celebrate" a disaster by rolling burning tyres down a hillside?  

It's just part of the Fiestas Lustrales y de San Roque 2015 in honour of the Santísimo Cristo de la Misericordia (Holy Christ of Mercy) and San Roque, being held from July 23rd to August 2nd (and actually on to the Romería de San Roque on August 16th, of which more later.) The origins of the fiestas date back to 1659; the first time the firework spectacular appeared under the name of the Fuegos del Risco was in 1922, although it was already celebrated in some form in 1881.

Other attractions this weekend include the Desfile De Carrozas Alegóricas (Parades of Allegorical Floats) on Saturday, 1st August at 10pm and on Sunday, 2nd August at 6pm. These are six floats, authentic works of art that require months of work. Residents of all ages work on these making hundreds of thousands of paper flowers, and elements in wood, cork or paper.

Los Fuegos Del Risco, Garachico, Tenerife 2010

Cloud vortices off Canary Islands

Cloud vortices off Canary Islands 
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

Strong, steady trade winds blow past Portugal and off the coast of northwestern Africa. As these winds rush past the tall peaks of the Canary Islands, their flow is dramatically disrupted, causing a predictable pattern of swirls and eddies to form on the leeward side of each island. The patterns are called Von Karman vortices, after Theodore von Karman, co-founder of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who first described the phenomenon. Although the patterns appear to be somewhat random, the flow of air around the obstruction follows laws of fluid dynamics, and the patterns formed can be predicted by mathematical formulations.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image on May 20, 2015.

May 29, 2015 - Cloud vortices off Canary Islands

Crosses and Fireworks for Día de la Cruz

Los Realejos Fireworks

On May 3rd, Día de la Cruz – Day of the Cross, is celebrated throughout Tenerife with the biggest fiestas in Santa Cruz and Los Realejos and  Puerto de La Cruz.

"In Tenerife the holiday has an additional meaning, as the date coincides with the founding of the city Santa Cruz in 1494. In this year, on May 3, the then Governor Fernandez de Lugo erected a wooden cross during a ceremony on the beach of Santa Cruz in order to officially establish the emerging metropolis.", explain Tenerife Guide.

The biggest bang for your buck will be the fireworks battle in Los Realejos, held on the night of May 3rd. Battle has been fought between the streets of El Sol and El Medio since around 1770 and today translates to a three hour firework display that uses three tonnes of gunpowder as one side tries to outdo the other. 

On 30th March 2015, the Spanish Tourism Ministry declared these "Cruces y Fuegos de Mayo" in Los Realejos to be of national tourist interest.

Fuegos 3 de Mayo 2013 Los Realejos

Remembering Dan-Air Flight 1008

G-BDAN seen at Manchester Airport in 1974 G-BDAN [CC BY-SA 2.0]

While many are aware of the accident that occurred on March 27, 1977, when 583 people died when KLM and Pan Am 747s collided on a foggy runway in Tenerife, less known is the island's second air disaster that took place some three years later. Dan-Air Flight 1008 was a fatal accident involving a Boeing 727-46 jet aircraft operated by Dan Air Services Limited from Manchester to Tenerife.

The crash, which occurred on 25th April 1980 in the forest in La Esperanza while the aircraft's flight deck crew wrongly executed an unpublished holding pattern in an area of very high ground, resulted in the aircraft's destruction and the deaths of all 146 on board (138 passengers and eight crew). Flight 1008 also marked the greatest loss of life in an air disaster involving a British-registered aircraft.

Remembering Dan-Air Flight 1008


A Turn Too Tight (Dan-Air Flight 1008)