DIA DE CANARIAS

DIA DE CANARIAS = CANARIES DAY

On 30th May each year Tenerife, together with the other six Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, celebrates Canaries Day - the anniversary of the inauguration of the first Canary Islands Parliament in 1983.

Everywhere you go you will see people dressed in the traditional costumes and hear the local music. Schools celebrate the day before, and Parque de la Reina is no exception. Here are some photos I took of the school parade on Friday morning.

A local band

I was given one of these buns baked by the school.

 

Nothing is more refreshing than a slice of watermelon

One of my early morning walk friends with her, granddaughter and great-granddaughter 

AND - if you want to buy an apartment in Parque de la Reina, mine is FOR SALE

Click on APARTMENT at the top of my blog to see the photographs.

FELIZ DIA DE CANARIAS!

THESE TWO LITTLE GENTLEMEN WERE ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER A MORNING CELEBRATING DIA DE CANARIAS AT SCHOOL

Their costumes are a modest version of the full oufit, which for men includes a colourful sash and heavy woolen leggings - like leg-warmers knitted by a fisherman's wife  in Guernsey.











We only went to Las Galletas because the cat had eaten all her food, but after a quick coffee I followed to sound of music to the sports hall opposite the school and watched every pupil participating in an annual demonstrartion of national pride.

 Costumes were everywhere - the shops are full of them too - and the stands were full to bursting, Even the old men we usually see sitting by the car park were there, joining in the fun, Today is the actual holiday - so no doubt tonight there will be parties and fireworks and fighting and drunkenness, but yesterday was just music and dancing and lovely.

And on our way back to the car we saw this - an infant school's very creditable attempt at making a Corpus Cristi Carpet, for this is actually the feast ho Corpus Cristi and all over the island temporary carpets will me made out of flowers and coloured volcanic rock  I had to take my photograph upsidedown through the fence, but it looks really weird if I turn it right way up!

FELIZ DIA DE CANARIAS!

In other words - HAPPY CANARY ISLANDS DAY. May 30th is the day that the Canary Islands celebrate their existence. Schools and offices are closed and the traffic on the roads is reduced to a trickle. It was so quiet this morning that I overslept, and didn't start my walk until after nine o'clock.
This was the view of a road that is usually busy with cars heading for the motorway. Lovely and peaceful, and full of the scent of blossom from the yellow tree.

This old man was making the most of the shade and enjoying a morning smoke. He heard my camera and turned round to agree with me that the yellow tree was beautiful. I decided not to ask him why he preferred to gaze at a blank white wall.

I managed to persuade the Other Half to go to Los Cristianos and see what was happening, but there wasn't much to do with Dia de Canarias. We saw a group of people waiting for a coach to take them on some outing or other - one girl had hair as purple as her dress but I wasn't holding my camera at the time.
We had a coffee in the main street, knowing from experience that when we got nearer the sea the prices would shoot up.
After that we ran the gauntlet of waiters trying to tempt us into their establishments. "No thank you," I said to one, "We had coffee ten minutes ago." "Ah, but you are so beautiful that you must come back - I will expect you in ten minutes." Nice to be called beautiful, however insincerely!

The young man in the above photo is an sand-sculptor - with a pail of water, a sharp knife and a brush he puts my upturned-bucket sand-castles to shame.
And we saw a gang of local boys jumping into the sea from the harbour wall - a three- or four-metre drop which didn't faze them in the slightest.

 



 There were as many different ways to enjoy the holiday as there were people, but I only saw one little girl in national costume. Tonight will be a different story - any town or large village will be holding a dance - in traditional costume. I shall have to see if I can track one down.