La Palma celebrates St Michael's day

Whirling Fufo horses dance in Tazacorte for the fiesta of St Michael

Tazacorte celebrates its main annual fiesta this month, since its patron saint is St Michael the Archangel, who is also the patron saint of La Palma. There's something happening most days, but the famous bit is the dance of the Fufo horses on Wednesday 28th at 9:30 pm.

While you're there, you might want to visit the exhibition in a restored mansion called Casa Massieu, which is open from Mondays to Fridays, 10.00-13.30. Unfortunately the web site doesn't say what the exhibition's about.

And if you missed the devil dancing in Tijarafe, he'll turn up at the smaller fiesta in the hamlet of San Miguelin Breña Alta.

The devil, spouting fire at San Miguel, Brena Alta

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The Devil in Tijarafe

The devil's fiesta at Tijarafe

La Palma has several fiestas where the devil appears. He'll visit Tijarafe in the early hours of September 8th for the annual fiesta del diabolo. This is the night of Wednesday to Thursday

It starts off like most fiestas. The village centre is off the main road, and on the way in, you pass the usual mobile bars, blasting out music at full volume. In the main square, higher up, people dance to the salsa band.

Something I always notice at Palmeran fiestas - a lot of the younger people are pretty drunk, but it's very rare to see a fight. In fact I don't think I saw as much as a rude gesture last time I went.

Finally, at about 3:30 am, the giants and big heads appeared. These are standard carnival characters, and they wouldn't excite adults normally, but they're a sign that the devil will appear any minute.

The band launches into the traditional song, which goes something like, "Tra-la-la-la, the devil's coming soon." And then, sure enough, he appears.

The Devil's dance, Tijarafe, 2007.

It's a man wearing a metal suit covered with lit fireworks, and he heads straight for the middle of the crowd. Most of the jet is directed upwards, and I don't think you'd get serious burns if you got too close, but most people try to get away. (I wouldn't wear your best clothes to this fiesta. I really wouldn't.) Of course some people farther away try to get closer, so the result is a lot of pushing and shoving. (Don't take small children either!)

Meanwhile the band is singing, "Tra-la-la-la, the devil's here now," and "Tra-la-la-la, the party's not over yet."

After about five to ten minutes of this chaos, the devil runs out of fireworks and goes away. The Virgin Mary's defeated him again! And then the crowd thins out pretty rapidly as people go home. Boring normality is restored for another year.

The devil's fiesta at Tijarafe

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Events on La Palma this weekend

Silk exhibition at last year's craft fair

Friday night is the best meteor shower of the year, the Perseids. Of course it should be visible all over the planet, but La Palma's astronomical viewpoints will probably be a particularly good place to see shooting stars. Unfotunately the full moon will spoil the show quite a bit. Astrotour will be in La Polvacera bsketball court from 9 pm - 11:30 pm with telescopes.

This year, the island's annual craft fair will be in San Pedro, Breña Alta, from yesterday until Tuesday. There are 179 different exhibitors, showing 40 different crafts, so there should be something for everybody. The fair is in a big marquee in the Parque los Alamos just north of San Pedro, beside the tobacco museum. It will be open from 5 pm to 9 pm Friday, Saturday and Wednesday, and 11 am - 9 pm on Sunday and Monday.

Puntagorda is celebrating its annual fiesta, of St Maurus the Abbot. On Saturday there's a romería (something between a religious procession and a party) from the village centre to the old church, followed by a special mass, shared picnic and dance.

There are other fiestas in Concepción, Fuencaliente, Barlovento, and Argual.

Monday is a national holiday, and most shops will be shut, although most food shops will open at least briefly.

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Las Nieves Fiesta

Las Nieves will be holding its annual fiesta starting on Friday at about 1 am. It's quite a big fiesta as Our Lady of the Snows (the Virgin Mary) is the patron saint of the island. The church holds a statue of the her in painted terracotta, from the 15th century, standing on a marble throne covered with silver.

Las Nieves is a pretty hamlet, in the municipality of Santa Cruz, but about 2 km outside it as the crow flies. Normally it's quiet, but it'll be jam packed on Friday and all weekend, with mobile bars and stalls selling cheap toys. The secular party goes on all day, with lots of special masses and processions in between.

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Fiesta de Santana in San Jose (Brena Baja)

San Jose in Breña Baja is celebrating its annual fiesta.

Tonight, Sunday 17th
6pm is the Old Folks' festival, followed by a public dance in front of the town hall.

Tuesday 19th
5pm - 7 pm Bouncy castles in front of the town hall.

9:30 pm . Open-air cinema "Harry Potter y Las Reliquias de la Muerte." In the football stadium

Wednesday 20th
6:30 pm PASACALLES DISNEY along the main street of San José, accompanied by the Batucada (serious percussion) group Klan Aborígen followed by a Disney festival. "Share a world of dreams with your favourite Disney characters."
In front of the town hall.

9:30 pm . Open-air cinema "El Discurso del Rey."
In the football stadium

Thursday 21st
5pm - 7 pm Bouncy castles in front of the town hall.

7 pm. Petanca (bowls) tournament beside the Bar Travesía (on the main street). If you want to take part, sign up at the bar.

8 pm. Helena Turbo Teatro performs “ROMANCERO CANARIO", a theatrical spectacle for all the family based on Canarian oral history
In front of the town hall.

Friday 22nd
7pm Petanca (bowls) tournament beside the Bar Travesía (on the main street).

7pm. Concert by the town band in the parish hall (beside the new church)

9pm. Performance by the AWARA choir with the musical spectacle “Voces de la emigración”. (Voices of emigration) A musical journey through the sounds that surround an ocean, where the Canary Islands have been a meeting place for cultures.
In front of the town hall.

11pm. Big Fiesta Dj “SUMMER PARTY” organized by Abora Conexión.
In front of the town hall.

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The Sacred Heart fiesta in El Paso

Stencilling designs onto salt for the Sacred Heart fiesta

It’s El Paso’s main fiesta, The Sacred Heart (El Corazon Sagrado). Like Mazo and San José, they make archways and carpets, but they’re slightly different.

In San José, they dye the salt, and then put the colours together to make the picture. In El Paso, they start by putting down white salt –kilos and kilos of it from the salt pans in the southern tip of the island. They carefully put a stencil on top, and spray on the various colours until the design’s complete. In this case, they added a table on top with a statue of the Virgin, and then this man started retouching.

A nearly-finished carpet and altar

The salt carpets aren’t the only thing. They also make wonderful archways, similar to those in Mazo.

Panels for the Sacred Heart fiesta in El Paso

Well, as you can see, these days some of them aren’t arches. In this case the carpet is leaves from tree-heathers, laid down with a garden sieve. Like the ones in Mazo, they’re decorated with seeds and flowers.

Flower detail made with maize and other seeds

Unlike the ones in Mazo, a lot of the fine detail is done with crushed and dyed eggshells.

Fine detail made with crushed eggshells

They have lots of religious processions on La Palma, where they take the statue out of the church and around the neighbourhood streets, with music provided by the town band. A lot of the statues are beautiful, but if you see a lot of these processions, they do get a bit samey.

The Sacred Heart procession starts much like all the others, only on the salt carpet. But when they get halfway along the first carpet, the statue stops and brightly coloured bits of paper and bougainvillea petals start raining down from a nearby rooftop, which is very pretty indeed. (The papers had “The promises of the Sacred Heart” printed on them – at least twelve different ones.) And the kids scramble to collect the papers while they release some doves.

At the end of the first carpet, the procession stops again, beside the old church, where the choir sings about “The Source of Love” – and sing it very well, too.

Then the procession carries on round the back streets.

Last year the procession started at 7 pm.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Procession for the Sacred Heart fiesta, El Paso"][/caption]
Procession for the Sacred Heart fiesta, El Paso

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Corpus Christi in Breña Baja (San Jose)

San Jose in Breña Baja always celebrates Corpus Christi on the Sunday after Mazo's celebration. Since the whole thing takes out on a flat, tarmaced street, the tradition is to make carpets of coloured salt, with the altars being much more modest. In recent years, many of the carpets are made from seeds and petals, like the ones in Mazo.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Salt carpet for corpus christi in San Jose "][/caption]

Much as I love the petals, I think it’s a mistake for San Jose to become a second-rate Mazo. I prefer salt (which I suspect wouldn’t work on Mazo’s steep cobbles, anyway). You can have brighter colours and finer detail.

The carpets are made on the Saturday evening, and stay there until Sunday evening.

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Corpus Christi in Mazo

One of the biggest annual fiestas in La Palma is Corpus Christi in Mazo. Catholics all over the world celebrate Corpus Christi, but here they celebrate with the most wonderful archways and carpets decorated with petals,leaves and seeds. On Wednesday evening and night, each village of the municipality makes their own archway with a carpet and a little altar, so Thursday morning is a wonderful time to see them. They'll be up until Sunday, but they do tend to suffer a bit from the wind and careless feet. And do pop into the church to see the decorations there, too.

On Sunday they'll hold a special mass in the church followed by a procession around the archways. Corpus Christi is the festival of the body of Christ. The priest walks on the carpets holding the blessed wafers in their special container (called a monstrance), and as he comes to each archway, he puts the monstrance on the little altar, kneels and wafts incense around.

You can see photos of the fiesta from
2010, 2009 and 2008

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STARMUS on La Palma

STARMUS is a unique scientific, artistic and musical event taking place mostly in Tenerife this week, with a truely stellar lineup of speakers and performers. I wanted to go, but I couldn't afford the time or the money.

I say "mostly in Tenerife" because on Thursday Jack Szostak, Brian May, Richard Dawkins, Kip Thorne, George Smoot, Jill Tarter, Alexei Leonov and Neil Armstrong are coming to the Roque de los Muchachos for a round table discussion in the GTC dome at 7 pm. They'll be talking about things like: Why do we want to go to space? Why do we need to study the Universe? What are the relative merits of manned versus robotic space missions? Where do we go next?

It will be webcast live at http://www.starmus.com/pages/en/broadcast.php

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Fiesta in Puntallana this weekend

Most villages on La Palma have an annual fiesta in honour of their patron saint. (They've all got patron saints) Most weeks in summer see a fiesta somewhere or other, and this weekend it'll be Puntallana, in honour of St John the Baptist.

On Saturday there's a livestock fair from 10 am to 5:50 pm, the usual farmer's market from 10 am to 2 pm, bouncy castles and other kids' activities from 11 am plus various porting events: a hike, dominoes, baseball, dog trials at 4 pm and at 7:30 pm there's a horse race, along the LP102 from Martin Luis to El Tejal.

On Sunday, there's paint ball at 10 am, more bouncy castles and,I think, a water-fight at 11 am, and folk music starting at 6 pm.

On Monday and Tuesday, kids' football. On Wednesday they've got rhythmic gymnastics and more football.

While you're in the village, it's worth seeing the particularly nice church , the springs, and the museum at Casa Lujan.

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San Antonio del Monte, 2011

This weekend will see the biggest livestock fair on the island, in Garafía.



San Antonio del Monte used to be a village, but the villagers moved away. About the only thing that's left is the church of St. Anthony and the feast day, with it's massive fair. Apart from the animals, there's a craft fair, and of course lots of stalls selling cheap toys, food and drink.



It's a pretty enough little church, and for most of the day it's crowded with people visiting the saint and touching his belt.


After the mass, the statues are taken out to the fairground in a procession, and the priest blesses the animals.

The weather can be baking hot, but as you can see from the photos, sometimes the clouds blow in. It's a good idea to take both sunscreen and jumpers.



After the procession and blessing, they have live music and dancing.

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Photos of this year's crosses

Cruz de la Piedad, Breña Alta, 2011

Cruz Chica, Breña Alta, 2011

Cruz Centro de Acogida, Breña Alta, 2011, including two mayos

Detail from the Cruz Centro de Acogida, Breña Alta, 2011. The petals are pistachio shells, and behind them, pasta spirals

The Cruz de la Breveritas,, Breña Baja, 2011, with the shelter for locals at the left

The Cruz de El Monte, Breña Baja, 2011

The circle at the left of the Cruz de El Monte

Detail of the apple on the Cruz de El Monte, made of coloured drinking straws, end on


The hand-embroidered heron at the bottom of the Cruz de El Monte

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Fiesta de la Cruz tonight

Cross decorated for Fiesta de la Cruz, in Breña Alta, 2009

In the east of La Palma, Holy Cross Day (fiesta de la Cruz) is the biggest festival in spring. They only celebrate it in Santa Cruz, Breña Alta and Breña Baja, and as the name suggests, they decorate the roadside crosses – beautifully. As often happens, the main party is the night before the public holiday. Since most crosses are hung with gold jewelry (among other things) people stay beside them in shifts all night, and all the next day. Most holidaymakers go and admire the crosses on the morning of the 3rd (Monday), but the locals go see the crosses starting at about 11 pm the night before, when it’s cooler and more atmospheric.

Detail of a cross, showing the jewelry.

For the last few years, it’s been fairly common to have a few mayos or machangos beside the cross. These are giant rag dolls, almost life sized,something like scarecrows or the guys I used to make for bonfire night. In 2008, Last year, Santa Cruz had a whole street full of them.

Spiderman, protecting the Cruz del Rosal, Breña Alta, 2010

If you’ve got a hire car, the best plan is to go up to San Isidro and follow the crowd down the hill. There are crosses all the way along a very steep lane, which used to be a donkey track. Tonight it’ll be one-way — downhill. (You go up the much newer, asphalted road.) As you approach each cross, you’ll find a small traffic jam. You go past the cross slowly (usually saying, “Oh wow!”) and drive on to the next.

If you haven’t got a car, I recommend a stroll around Santa Cruz, particularly up the older bits. From 10 pm Sunday night until 2 am Monday morning, there will be a public dance (verbena) in the Plaza España at the north end of Santa Cruz, near the concrete ship. And there will be fireworks at midnight at the Castillo de la Virgen in Santa Cruz.

San José cross, Breña Baja, 2010

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Puntagorda's Almond Blossom Fiesta

Puntagorda's Almond Blossom fiesta: the main stage is in the green branches at the left, and most of the stalls are along the road going up the hill.

The main village of Puntagorda is quite spread out, but finding the fiesta was very easy - I just followed the music. As you can see, it was packed. But then I knew that a group of people from my own village had hired a bus to go there, and clearly, several other villages had the same idea. These are the buses that wouldn't fit in the main bus-park.

A few of the buses that came to Puntagorda for the Almond Blossom fiesta

The bouncy castles were well appreciated by the youngest people there.
Bouncy Castles at Puntagorda for the Almond Blossom fiesta


And the social club for seniors was packed with dancers. I'd have joined in if there'd been a bit more space.
The seniors' club in Puntagorda during the Almond Blossom fiesta


And just as I left, the salsa band left the main stage, to be replaced by a rock band. I much prefer rock 'n' roll, so I was quite sad that I had such a long drive ahead and had to leave.


The star of the Almond Blossom fiesta in Puntagorda

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Free Live Music in Santa Cruz de la Palma

La Palma's first winter mini-festival will be sponsored by Ruido fanzine (to present issue 15 of Ruido) and the cultural association Mareando (to present the association's activities.)


It will take place in the Plaza de España de S/C de La Palma on Saturday 8th January starting at 10 pm.
The local groups, Soulamente Soulo and Mojo Blues will perform, and they'll be various cultural stands, tapas, activities for children and DJs.

As usual for a Ruido party, you'll be able to buy current and past issues of the magazine, and they'll hold a raffle.

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Fireworks in Santa Cruz de la Palma, New year, 2010

Santa Cruz de la Palma, Los Llanos, and most big villages will have a public dance to celebrate new year. In some cases, that blocks the traffic. For example, Santa Cruz's main road along the sea front will be shutting at 10 pm. (If you need to get through, use the bypass inland.) Many people dress up - I mean really dress up, as though they were going to the opera at Covent Garden. At midnight, people traditionally eat one grape for each "boing" of the clock. If you manage all twelve on schedule, it's supposed to bring good luck, or prosperity, or something. (It usually gives me indigestion.) People drink champagne, and every town hall on the island lets off fireworks.

We'll be partying at home, and enjoying the fireworks from the balcony.

I hope 2011 brings all my readers whatever they most wish for. It should bring my first e-book to market - a guide to the Roque de Los Muchachos observatory.

Happy New Year!

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Holy Innocents on La Palma

The 28th of December is Holy Innocents’ Day, which commemorates the massacre of the innocents by Herod in Matthew’s gospel (although according to Wikipedia, it’s probably not a historical event). In Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, it’s the Spanish equivalent of April Fool’s Day.

For example, one year I told my husband that the police had been around asking whether he'd been jogging in the nude. Now my husband does go jogging, but not in the nude -- although sometimes he goes topless. Anyway, I said the police had had complaints about him jogging nude, and wanted to talk to him urgently, and I'd like it cleared up too, because I found the whole thing terribly embarrassing. And I kept it going for about ten minutes before I collapsed into giggles.

So watch out today.

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What's On

Well I wellied. I thought Tazacorte would have its procession of Fufo horses tonight, but it was last night. Sorry. Tonight they have a special mass at 7:30 pm, followed by a procession and fireworks. On Friday there's a concert in Casa Massieu (an old manor house) at 9:30 pm, and on Saturday the pop group "Pereza" will give a concert in the sports centre at 10 pm.

San Miguel in Breña Alta has the same patron saint (St. Michael the archangel) so they've been having fiestas too. The good bit with the fireworks was on Saturday (oops.)

Meanwhile we also have a general strike, in protest at the government's austerity measures. I have no idea how many people will actually strike.

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The Devil in Tijarafe

The devil's fiesta at Tijarafe

Drat! I missed the fiesta del diabolo in Tijarafe.

Every year, right in the middle of the annual village fiesta, the devil turns up at Tijarafe in the early hours of September 8th.

It starts off like most fiestas. The village centre is off the main road, and on the way in, you pass the usual mobile bars, blasting out music at full volume. In the main square, higher up, people dance to the salsa band.

Something I always notice at Palmeran fiestas - a lot of the younger people are pretty drunk, but it's very rare to see a fight. In fact I don't think I saw as much as a rude gesture last year.

Finally, at about 3:30 am, the giants and big heads appeared. These are standard carnival characters, and they wouldn't excite adults normally, but they're a sign that the devil will appear any minute.

The band launches into the traditional song, which goes something like, "Tra-la-la-la, the devil's coming soon." And then, sure enough, he appears.

The Devil's dance, Tijarafe, 2007.

It's a man wearing a metal suit covered with lit fireworks, and he heads straight for the middle of the crowd. Most of the jet is directed upwards, and I don't think you'd get serious burns if you got too close, but most people try to get away. (I wouldn't wear your best clothes to this fiesta. I really wouldn't.) Of course some people farther away try to get closer, so the result is a lot of pushing and shoving. (Don't take small children either!)

Meanwhile the band is singing, "Tra-la-la-la, the devil's here now," and "Tra-la-la-la, the party's not over yet."

After about five to ten minutes of this chaos, the devil runs out of fireworks and goes away. The Virgin Mary's defeated him again! And then the crowd thins out pretty rapidly as people go home. Boring normality is restored for another year.

The devil's fiesta at Tijarafe

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Battle of Lepanto in Barlovento on Sunday

The battle of Lepanto in Barlovento.

The patron saint of Barlovento is Our Lady of the Rosary (la Virgen del Rosario). The Christian victory at the battle of Lepanto in 1571 is attributed to her, soevery two years, Barlovento stages a re-enactment of the battle as part of the annual fiesta. This year, it happens on Sunday 15th at 6:15 pm.

Here’s the fun part: the original sea-battle involved 80,000 men, and the re-enactment consists of about 80 men on dry land. They use a field outside town and the boats are on wheels.

Obviously, this is deliciously silly.

They make a rather good toy castle with about 12 visible defenders, which gets attacked with lots of dramatic bangs which throw dust up into the air – I think they must bury explosives in advance. The Christians win, take all the Turks prisoner, and march them off to church where they all convert to Christianity. Politically correct NOT! But then I’m sure that somewhere there’s an equivalent Muslim fiesta which ends with all the Christians converting to Islam. Of course the fiesta carries on with music in the plaza and dancing long into the night.

Last time (2008) I was in the wrong place to see the naval battle, so I hope to catch it this time.

The battle of Lepanto in Barlovento.

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