On May 3, 2019 no one could imagine that that day of Crosses and Fires in Los Realejos It would be the last before a long historical hiatus caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Just three years later, with the coronavirus still present, the northern municipality returns this Tuesday, May 3, 2022, to decorate its 300 crosses and recover its traditional night of fireworksan pyrotechnic spike which has become one of the largest fireworks displays in Europe. It has been more than a thousand days of waiting that the realejeros will leave behind in a day prepared with the extra emotion of the return.
From today, families, friends and groups have been busy in the floral decoration of their crosses. The two most emblematic, undisputed protagonists of this festival, They are located in the chapels of El Sol and El Medio Arriba streets.. Two routes that for centuries have been the protagonists of a pique whose main ingredients are the flowers of the day and the fires of the night. On this day, they will show off the flower arrangement that surrounds each cross, and at night, with the funds raised by the neighbors, the sky will light up with a pique that will once again be in the hands of the Toste Brothers pyrotechnicsfrom Los Realejos, to El Sol street, and from the pyrotechnics Brothers Caballer, from Valencia, for El Medio street. It is expected that the fires, prepared from today in the launch areas, begin to light up the sky from 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3. A show of almost two hours which can be followed live through the official Facebook of the Department of Tourism Los Realejos with the five senses.
This royal party declared of National Tourist Interest since 2015, will continue this year with the effort to achieve recognition as a Festival of International Tourist Interest. To achieve this, journalists from different media abroad will return today to try to spread worldwide the most awaited day by Los Realejos.
The pyrotechnics Hermanos Toste and Hermanos Caballer star in the pyrotechnic pique on the night of this Tuesday, May 3
During the day you can also enjoy more than 90 adorned crosses in the nucleus of La Cruz Santa; of the exhibition Memory in the street, with more than 250 photographs on the facades and windows of El Sol and El Medio streets, and of the multitude of crosses that, in every corner, recall the return of the party from before. Between 10:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., tourist transfers will be offered again to visit the crosses departing from Los Remedios Avenue to La Cruz Santa. Plaza Viera y Clavijo will host from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. the I Gastronomic Fair of the Crosses and Fires of May. The afternoon will also be enlivened in El Sol and El Medio streets with parades by the Realejos Fanfare, at 5:00 p.m., and by the 101 Brass Band, with giants and big heads, at 6:00 p.m. The Realejos Fanfare itself will be at 6:00 p.m. also through the streets of La Cruz Santa.
A key moment will be the celebration of the Eucharist at 12:00 in the Matrix Parish of the Apostle Santiago, after which the procession of the cross will begin along the usual route. Before entering the temple, the great pyrotechnic fireworks will take place at noon, which has already become one of the most anticipated moments. At 10:00 p.m. the night procession begins, at which time porters from El Sol street will take the Cross from the church to its chapel while they light up the sky with their particular offering of fires. In the street of La Piladividing the previous one with El Medio street, the exciting transfer of the cross will take place on the shoulders of its people, in charge of returning the cross to the parish, after previously launching its fireworks offering.