
By Maria del Pilar Rodriguez Mesa (Caracas)
We refer to the Virgin of La Candelaria and we are describing her as a walker. And will the Virgin be so and so a traveler as to describe her as a “walker”? Everything indicates that the qualifier comes like a glove. Because she goes around the world, and in that sense she competes with Magellan and Elcano, of course as a Marian vocation, not in seamanship. And it is very likely that she would get on the expedition that she anchored in the south of Tenerife, in 1519, along with some people from Tenerife who more than once would be imploring her virgin to protect them.
As always, the Canarian issue is interesting and mysterious, not to say that it is overlooked. We start from the recognition and acceptance that La Candelaria accompanies the canaries where they have been kicking, in a way that is indicative of their presence and of a foolproof affection. It is a symbiosis. And where and how far have these islanders come? Alejandro de Humboldt helps us when he gives an idea of a certain ubiquity: “It is necessary to study them in the steppes of the province of Caracas, in the foothills of the Andes, in the burning plains of the Philippine Islands, and wherever, isolated in uninhabited regions they have had occasion to display an energy and activity which are the true riches of a settler. He adds a very interesting observation to take into account: “The Canarian people are endowed with a vivacity of imagination that distinguishes the inhabitants of Andalusia and Granada”.
We follow and rely on the Dominican friar Alonso de Espinosa (1543-1600) and his work On the origin and miracles of the holy image of Our Lady of Candelaria that appeared on the Island of Tenerife, with the description of this Island, which was published in Seville in 1594. We find that the Virgin of Candelaria, because curiously “… having appeared to infidels, and in the lands of infidels” in “the year one thousand and four hundred of our redemption, one hundred and five years before the island was Christians…..” In other words, if Tenerife remains under the sovereignty of Castile in 1496, then this virgin had been venerated for a long time and had no Spanish origin. In addition, apparently her fervor spread to all the islands for being miraculous. And how would she get there? Logically, at some point after the rediscovery, perhaps at the hands of the Normans but before the Holy See, which at the time had its headquarters in Avignon, the suffragan kingdom of La Fortunia was created.
In addition, in Capetian France the night of the Candles was celebrated, derived from pagan festivities assimilated into Christianity. In any case, by the hand of one of the many visitors who were interested in the only inhabited archipelago and closest to the African coast of Macaronesia, although what prevails is the appearance of the image on the beach of El Socorro, in the south of Tenerife. We’ll leave it like that.
Castilla, who incorporated all those Guanches who agreed to the new situation as his “naturals”, must have sensed that this cult favored a more expeditious Christianization, and in addition allowed him to count on collaborators. It will also be a symbol of resistance, and here things change, because it was an image that appeared to the “natives” and it belonged to them, so that, taking advantage of their rights and fighting for them, they would be involved in more than one incident and in prolonged lawsuits. . We defend that as “natural” they swelled the repopulation process in Spain, in the southern Castilian territories, between the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and probably the first third of the seventeenth.
Now we will try to have an idea of the world of La Candelaria and how we ponder that it was going around the world, since we found that in central areas of the Philippine archipelago the cult of the Virgin of Candelaria continues hand in hand with that of the Virgin of Guadalupe (which is the patron saint of La Gomera). They are shown as two virgins who enter the Spanish world from its initiation. The Philippines was under the administration of the Viceroyalty of Mexico.
And to continue our journey we will go to couplets. The initial and it could not be otherwise is: “Virgen de Candelaria / the most beautiful / the darkest / the one that spreads her mantle / from the summit to the sand”. The summit, then, is the peak of Teide, until it reaches the edge of the sea (the sand). We continue and enter southern Spain, where La Candelaria was celebrated and is still celebrated in many towns, such as in the south of Badajoz, in Córdoba in the Valle de los Pedroches, in towns in Murcia, also in Almería, in Málaga where verses from Verdiales are dedicated to him, and so on. We entered the lands of Jaén, the Sierra de Segura and the town of Orcera, which celebrates on February 2 with these verses: “Candelaria came,/ she never came,/ it cost me a beating/ to go see her/ Candelaria florida ,/ rosemary flower, / don’t tell anyone/ that I love you”.
distant geographies
We crossed the Atlantic and verified that the vocation to the Virgin of Candelaria is very widespread throughout Spanish America. In addition to a certain probable early presence, its wider dispersion can be linked to the increase in the founding and settlement impulse that occurred from the second half of the 17th century and throughout the 18th century, towards which many Canarians and structured Canarian families would go. . Fundamentally on their own and less directed. Certain destinations are shown as preferred. We will only make a few references that take us to distant geographies, although, and why not? Surely Candelaria had a certain autonomy.
Thus, we arrive in Venezuela where the Candelaria is a widely extended devotion. And so, in the Barlovento plain we find this song in the form of a party: “Candelaria beautiful/ bright star/ you appeared on February 2”……”I come from Curiepe/ with my singing/ and to Candelaria/ I celebrate her day”…… “Our Christmases / usually end / on February 2 and carnival begins”… And the festivity, known as Vasallos de la Candelaria, is celebrated in several towns in the Andean state of Mérida. In Mexico, in Tlacotalpan, to the east of the city of Veracruz, this couplet is sung during its festivities: “Virgen de la Candelaria/ I trust in your protection/ and singing this prayer/ I raise a prayer of mine/ take care of my daily life/ just as you protect the river…”. Also in Colombia, in Mangangué. In her Sanctuary this hymn is heard: “Glorious Virgin of the Candles/ exalted queen/ mother of God/ you are relief from our sorrows… over the waters of the Magdalena/ a navigator cries out for mercy/ the Candelaria/ dark-haired virgin/ overcomes danger/ and the storm… We continue to Chile, where she is the patron saint of the Atacama region, and in the city of Copiapó her party lasts 12 days. It is the great festival of Candelaria and it is sung: “We come to your house / to see you and greet you / receive our prayers / joy, pain and singing / Virgin of Candelaria / Mother of the Lord Jesus….” We reached the northwest of Argentina, in Jujuy, in the Humahuaca area, this hymn honors her: “Virgen María de la Candelaria/ prostrate before your image/ look at us with the eyes of a mother/ we are your children….”
We find a widely communicated world, which has achieved an astonishing homogeneity and accepted and reconciled an astonishing diversity. To the east, the Manila Galleon spent 300 years uniting 3 continents. It left Manila heading for the shores of Acapulco, on the Pacific, from where the merchandise arrived in Veracruz (the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz), from there it passed to Spain and other Spanish territories, such as Venezuela. In the west, from 1561, two fleets operated from Cádiz. The Fleet or Fleet of New Spain, which departed in August, and the Galleons or Fleet of Tierra Firme, which departed between January and March. Both landed in the Canary Islands, where supplies were only allowed, possibly to avoid smuggling of goods and people, and they continued on their way to their destinations. The Tierra Firme Fleet was reorganized in Cartagena de Indias, where the galleons from Peru, Central America, and Venezuela met for their return, which was made from San Cristóbal de La Habana, nearby islands, then the Azores, and from there to Cadiz.