If there was emotion and even tears in the ceremony of the Guanches, even more so if possible, it was experienced shortly after, when the Virgin of Candelaria paraded, three years later, through the square to which it gives its name and along La Arena street until reaching to the Pozo and return to the Basilica, where thousands of people from Tenerife continued to arrive, many of them crossing the summit and the majority through the TF-28 (Carretera Vieja).
Many from the north of the island, but also from the south, some on bicycles, others in cars or buses, but most walkinglike Aurora, from Los Realejos: “I have come to fulfill a promise, but also to thank you for everything you have helped us during the pandemic.”
Hundreds of people crowded the sidewalks to see La Morenita up close when night was falling, while the road was lit up with mobile phones instead of candles, those that light the path of the canaries, as the town crier recalled. parties, Luis Morera. Upon arrival at the Basilica, there was a greeting from Prior José Ramón Enjamio, ending with the Ave Maria sung by Chago Melián.
Big day with the bishop’s mass and the procession through the square
Today the big day of the Patron Saint of the Canary Islands will be celebrated with the assistance of the highest authorities of the Islands, such as the Canarian president, Ángel Víctor Torres, at the institutional acts that will begin at 11:00 a.m. with the departure of the Civic Procession from the Town Hall to the Plaza de la Patrona de Canarias, where the military parade and the reception of the representative of His Majesty the King of Spain, who this year falls to Gustavo Matos, president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, will take place. As is traditional, the Eucharist will be presided over by the bishop of the Diocese of Nivariense, Bernardo Álvarez, and sung by the Choir Voces para la Esperanza Villa de Candlemas and the Las Candelas Chamber Orchestra. Once the mass is over, the procession will take place with the image of the Patron Saint of the Canary Islands around the square.
