A total of eight tons of ashes from the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma will be used in the traditional making of the rugs in honor of Corpus Christi in La Orotava, declared a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC) and one of the the main events of the patron saint festivities of this Villa, to be held in the coming month of June.
This was confirmed yesterday to DIARIO DE AVISOS by the mayor of Orota, Francis Linareswho stressed that, with this initiative of the Association of Carpet Makers of La Orotava, the municipality intends to “pay public recognition to the palm people for their exceptional behavior during the natural emergency that left more than 7,000 families homeless, and remember that the Isla Bonita still needs everyone’s help.”
The mayor explained that the ash will be used mainly in the Teide sand carpet in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, known as the great tapestry or monumental tapestry, whose production is currently directed by the carpet maker Domingo González Expósito.
Linares stressed that the palm ashes will be the great novelty of this edition of the ephemeral art tradition of the village and will provide “a special and unique black color, very different from the one usually extracted from the lands of the Cañadas del Teide”.
For the extraction of the ash and its transfer from La Palma to La Orotava, the City Council had to request “all the pertinent authorizations”, explained Linares, who calculated that the shipment of eight tons will last for about 10 years of carpets, “with what that in some way the carpet tradition will from now on join La Orotava and La Palma through the union of the sands of Teide and the ashes of Cumbre Vieja in honor of the Corpus Christi”. This will not be the only tribute that will be paid to La Palma within the framework of the 2022 patron saint festivities of the Villa.
The Association of Carpet Makers of La Orotava has projected a Carpet for solidarity with La Palma, which will be produced and exhibited from this April in the courtyard of the Carpet Interpretation Museum-Centre -next to the Casa de los Balcones-, where visitors can make donations to benefit those affected by the eruption. In addition, the Association of Carpet Makers has joined the project Now it’s La Palma, a slogan with which t-shirts are sold to help the victims.
