A small representation of India could be visited this weekend in the south of Tenerife thanks to a new edition of the Festival of Indiawhich again chose Arona as its stage. Las Américas beach was filled with the aromas of the Asian country and all its traditions, such as the Ratha Yatra, the great Hindu festival associated with the worship of Yaganar. Thus, a showy procession occupied some of the main streets of this coastal town, where traditions merged with a weekend full of tourists.
This is the XI edition of this celebration in the southern municipality of Tenerife and precisely the mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena -who did not miss the appointment either of the two days of the weekend-, recalled that the municipality celebrates with this new edition of the Festival of India that it is a “diverse and multicultural territory, with citizens of 130 nationalities, who they have different heritages and roots. In this case, we accompany a community that has a great presence and enormous roots among us.
After two days full of activities, the meeting ended last night with the most ceremonial part. The Golden Mile of Playa de las Américas hosted from 7:30 p.m., the reception and worship of the Divinities, the pooja –offering– of the coconuts and the procession along Rafael Puig Avenue and the Avenida de Las Américas, which ended with a free tasting of vegetarian products, all with the aim of transporting all attendees to India thanks to a careful traditional aesthetic, which offered great showiness and made numerous onlookers who strolled around the area will be encouraged to participate in the activities.
The Indian community of Tenerife continues to grow but young people must go out to work
After the offering of the coconuts, after turning them three times to the right and three times to the left and throwing them against the asphalt, the procession began after nine o’clock at night. the president of the Hindu community in the south of Tenerife, Jagdish Fabiani, celebrated that this tradition has been able to return to Tenerife after the stoppage of the pandemic and highlighted the large influx of public during the two days that this festival lasted.
Despite the fact that the most important act took place yesterday afternoon, the Festival of India began a day earlier, on Saturday, with activities that revolved around the spiritual, crafts, dance or cinema. The stalls were opened at three in the afternoon and the official opening took place at seven in the afternoon, when authorities and representatives of the Hindu community lit the ceremonial lamp, followed by theater, dance and talk performances. Most of the participants who were in charge of the small market stalls are already regulars at this festival.
This is the case of the Italian Delia Piccari, who has participated for several years with her brand Mandelia, creation from the soul. The young artisan paints mandalas on practically any surface, on wood, ceramics and even recycled materials, such as discs that she turns into cup rests. This has become an unavoidable date for Delia Piccari since the philosophy of the festival fits perfectly with that of her brand, with which she travels the geography of Tenerife from event to event.
aleksei gomez is another of the participants who do not miss an edition of the Festival of India. In his stand he gives information about the massage and yoga school that he has in Tejina and sells his clothes. Thus, he comes to Arona not only to participate in this small market but also to offer some of the yoga classes that are part of the festival’s activity program during the weekend. In this way, the Sunday session began with the fifth edition of the Arona Yogafest, starting at 10:30 am. But the main course came from half past seven in the evening with the Ratha Yatra, one of the most important Hindu celebrations in the world. In Spain, the most relevant are precisely those that take place in Madrid, Barcelona and Arona.
Gastronomy, crafts, yoga and religion come together in an event held this weekend
The municipality in the south of Tenerife thus recovered normality in the celebration after two years of restrictions due to the covid pandemic. The Ratha Yatra, which has been celebrated for five thousand years in the Indian city of Puri, where more than 16 million people gather, has finally taken place. Currently, this event is celebrated in 108 cities around the world, such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Sidney or Lima, Madrid or Johannesburg.
In Arona, yesterday, the typical music of the Hare Krisna accompanied the divinities who traveled the main roads of the Golden Mile. The nine-meter-high float that paraded had decorations and flowers that turned the afternoon into a colorful scene and spirituality.
long tradition
Arona has become one of the three Spanish cities in which the celebration of the Ratha Yatra has taken on the most importance, only behind Madrid and Barcelona. The first families from India arrived in the municipality of southern Tenerife more than 120 years ago and after so long, both the Hindu community and public administrations have come together to carry out these activities that enhance the ties between all communities cultures that cohabit in the same space.
Hinduism is the third religion in the world in number of followers and 40,000 people of Hindu origin reside in Spain and of these, a good part resides in the Canary Islands, which has the oldest community in the country. Jagdish Fabiani explained yesterday that the Tenerife community continues to grow year after year; however, the economic crisis forces many of Tenerife’s young Hindus to go abroad to find a job. Despite this, the community continues to take root in Tenerife, where the ties between all the inhabitants are reinforced year after year with activities such as the one this weekend in Arona.
