SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 14. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Gran Canaria has been home to the Camino de Santiago entre Volcanes for more than five hundred years, a 70-kilometre path that runs through the island from north to south, from the dunes of Maspalomas to Gáldar through ravines, tracks and natural landscapes, and which for many people is a “transformational experience”.
To make it known, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the General Directorate of Tourism Planning and Promotion, has organized the 1st International Congress Camino de Santiago entre Volcanes, a meeting that will take place in Expomeloneras, in Maspalomas, on June 16 and 17.
One of the speakers at this meeting is Alfred Gutiérrez Kavanagh, a specialist in the Middle East from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid. On him has fallen the task of chairing the Scientific Committee of a multidisciplinary event that aims to value the Way of Saint James between Volcanoes.
In an interview with Europa Press, Professor Gutiérrez Kavanagh explained that one of the fundamental objectives of this congress is to make the Camino de Santiago known in the Canary Islands as a heritage of humanity that encourages the meeting of people of different cultures and confessions. , and which covers a “spiritual and physical” itinerary of great beauty.
Other objectives of this meeting are to show the role of the Canary Islands throughout its history as a link between continents and civilizations, as well as to serve as a meeting point between people with very diverse concerns and origins in order to promote the cultural tourism in the Islands, that is, “putting value on all that heritage of flora, fauna, art, music and intangible heritage that the Canary Islands have had since the origins of history”, highlighted the professor.
Likewise, the Congress seeks to show the multiculturalism of the Archipelago, making the Camino de Santiago known as a world heritage site that fosters the meeting of people from different cultures and confessions, and to show how the Islands themselves, due to their history, their geographical location and his career are also a model of tolerance and acceptance, explained Gutiérrez Kavanagh.
MORE THAN 500 YEARS OF HISTORY.
The Camino de Santiago entre Volcanes emerged on the island of Gran Canaria in the year 1481 when Juan Frías, bishop of the Canarian-Ruby diocese between 1473 and 1485, asked his priests and parishioners to attend mass to celebrate the feast of the Apostle Santiago in the church of Santiago de los Caballeros de Gáldar, the former Agaldar, court of the Guanarteme or kings of these lands. We are, therefore, at the beginning of the Jacobean tradition that will continue for 541 years.
Gáldar is joined by the church of Tunte, in the neighboring municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, where the figure of Santiago El Chico is venerated, together with marine legends that recall the transfer of the apostle, already a martyr, from Jaffa, Palestine, to Register of Queen Lupa, in Galicia.
Over time, the road between the two temples became the Camino de Santiago Entre Volcanes and was granted the papal bull twice until in 1994 John Paul II awarded it definitively.
Professor Gutiérrez Kavanagh points out that perhaps due to the importance that the Camino de Santiago has had on the Peninsula, the Camino de Santiago between Volcanoes “has been more hidden”; however, he stressed that we are facing a road that crosses Gran Canaria from south to north and that it has an “immense” intangible heritage.
“It is a welcome path where we can find not only elements or symbols of the Christian religion, but also a whole symbology that includes different periods of the spirituality of the Canary Islands, which is something magical,” said the professor.
Gutiérrez Kavanagh added that for many people following this path is a “transforming experience”, that is, “an experience that is not only cognitive and intellectual, but also goes directly to being and that provides many with some kind of knowledge of themselves. , on the other, lighting”.
A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPOINTMENT
For the first time in the Canary Islands, the Congress will bring together experts from the scientific, cultural and heritage fields of recognized prestige from all over the national and international territory. In this sense, Alfred Gutiérrez Kavanagh indicated that this meeting aims to give a global vision of the Camino de Santiago between Volcanoes, hence it has speakers from very diverse disciplines.
Thus, among the speakers are neurosurgeons, anthropologists, art historians, religionists, scientists, professors of Literature, among other experts. “Deep down we want to give that plural vision and that reconciliation between art and science with respect to the Camino de Santiago entre Volcanes; a universal path where the great fundamental elements for every human being are present,” said the professor.
The I Camino de Santiago entre Volcanes International Congress will revolve around five thematic axes: ‘Camino de Santiago as a spiritual and physical itinerary’; ‘Way of the oceans. The Canary Islands link between continents’; ‘The multiculturalism of the Canary Islands and the route between volcanoes’, and ‘The legacy of arts and letters in cultural itineraries’.
The president of the Scientific Committee advanced that during the two days that the Congress lasts, conferences will be offered where the speakers will discuss and debate on the importance and significance of this tourist-cultural itinerary from different perspectives, while other events will be organized for the participation of the civil society in this global project.
Thus, music, own gastronomy, excursions to discover the Sacred Mountains and Risco Caído, declared World Heritage Sites, a section of the pilgrimage on foot for those who wish to experience a different itinerary to those already known in Europe or elsewhere. of the world will be the planned activities that will culminate the scientific work developed in this congress.
