It’s just after 1:30 p.m. and Calle San Francisco is packed. Neighbors, friends from other municipalities and even tourists are placed, as they can, in the surroundings of the historic Casa Balcones to contemplate, for the first time in three years, a unique Canarian show of carts, traditional music and community spirit.
The popular copla refers to the Pilgrimage of La Orotava What “the most beautiful party in the Canary Islands”, and the meeting held yesterday returned to revalidate that title. It is not surprising, because every year, with months of work behind them, the Liceo de Taoro Cultural Society and the villeros are responsible for ensuring that this is the case. Although three years have passed Since the last time that the streets of Villeras were able to enjoy the color, music and joy of this traditional Pilgrimage, families from all over the municipality returned to the streets yesterday as if not a day had passed since the last time. Because this party, for “lifelong” villeros, like Manolo Martín, “is always a special moment.” In fact, for the neighbor of La Orotava “It is always a pleasure to return”, because each year a “special” memory is taken away.
A total of 66 carts –one of them the Romera Mayor– have participated in this edition
the time accompanied. From early in the morning, the north of Tenerife was covered with a thick blanket of clouds (the usual donkey belly) due to the direction in which the trade winds blow these days. It was the mayor of La Orotava, Francisco Linares, who highlighted that good “climate” for allowing them to hold the event without problems; while he highlighted the “desire for joy, to have fun and to rejoin life” of the residents of the municipalities. The little ones lived the reunion with music, dances and joy with a smile that crosses their faces throughout the afternoon. From his cart, three-year-old Pablo Rodríguez watches the colossal animals go by that, with superhuman strength, pull those immense carts full of other children somewhat older than him. It is the first time that he contemplates something similar and he cannot avoid staying, at the same time, ojiplático and mouth agape because of how happy all the people who pass by chatting, singing, playing instruments or handing out food seem to be.
The pilgrimage of La Orotava revalidates its title as the ‘most beautiful festival in the Canary Islands’
Minors are a key part of the joy of this long-awaited return to the streets of the town. Most of them go to the party accompanied by their grandparents or their parents and others are lucky enough to get on one of the 66 carts that run through La Orotava, from Cruz del Teide to Plaza de la Paz, in El Calvario. It is the ideal time for them to begin to get drunk on the rosemary spirit. And it is that the irruption of the coronavirus has caused many to ignore even what this Orotavense tradition consists of. This is the case of Andrea Ramírez, a 10-year-old girl who, from the top of a cart, assures that this is her “first time”.
The La Orotava pilgrimage is also a day for the elderly, who get together again with their families and friends to take advantage of Sunday in a different way. Many have been rehearsing for months by now. They gather in folkloric groups and parrandas that sing down the street accompanied by all kinds of instruments –including limpets– an extensive repertoire of folías and perform traditional dance shows in the street with an enviable coordination. Others, like Toñi García, once again take their carts out of the attic to show them off to the rest of the villeros and be able to spend a different day with their families and friends. “Our cart is more than 25 years old and every pilgrimage we reform it so that it can continue to wage war,” he highlights.
The pilgrimage of La Orotava, configured as it is today, begins in 1936
The pilgrimage of La Orotava is marked by an intense sense of community. The celebration not only becomes a day of meetings, but also of helping others to ensure that the joy and enjoyment extends to all those who decide to participate in the meeting. This festive altruism is found in gestures as simple as the distribution of food. Throughout the route, the hundreds of people who are in the carts distribute hard-boiled eggs, kneaded gofio, bags of popcorn and lupins, pretty potatoes, cheese and roast beef to everyone they see with some hunger. “Here what we want is for everyone to have a good time,” says Manolo Martín, who explains that, in the carts, “90% of the food that is bought is to distribute to the rest of the people.” Between dances, color and music, La Orotava says goodbye to its patron saint festivities until next year.
