big day in Cross portfor the essence, the roots and the identity of a town that takes care of its traditions of the day of San Juan, where the great protagonists were the 400 copies that participated in the Bath of the Goats in the Sea, a traditional act that recovers the city and that is part of the arrival of summer.
Yesterday, hundreds of people from Porto and visitors waited before eight in the morning for the arrival of the herds that came down from the upper part of the Valley of La Orotava to meet the annual appointment since 1986 (except in 2020). It was the moment of the recovery of an ancestral act by a group led by Professor Manuel Lorenzo Perera. A ritual that recalls the importance not only of the primary sector, but also of maintaining and caring for traditions which since that year claims its place within the framework of the events “that make this San Juan such a special day, together with the Enrame de los Chorros and the program dedicated to celebrating the night on the beach, with the traditional bonfires and some concerts”.
Like every year, the name of Chucho Dorta was heard among goatherds and neighbors. Jesús Eustaquio Dorta passed away 20 years ago. He symbolized the Bathing of the Goats in the Sea, which he starred in for years dressed as the aborigines.
Marco González, the mayor of Porto, thanked the participation of all the groups, such as the goatherds, the Auchón Guanil Association –which made an exhibition of the stick game–, and José Manuel Espinel, “who leads the recovery of the Canarian intelligence games” who completed, together with the members of the Education classroom of the University of La Laguna, “a morning full of the celebration of a feeling that delves into our roots for centuries,” says the municipal government of Puerto de la Cruz.
“This is where the figure of Manuel J. Lorenzo Perera becomes gigantic,” the mayor stressed at the time of paying homage to the 2022 Canary Islands Prize for Popular Culture. “A well-deserved tribute that we dedicate with love from our city to his enormous work” he explained. González underlined “that message of care and promotion of our traditions that have so much to do with our origin and with that opportunity to distinguish the city as a place that celebrates and shares that identity that is so palpable these days».
