The cemeteries of the Island become these days the cornerstone of the tradition of Day of the Dead. All the municipalities have scheduled extraordinary openings of their cemeteries from this Saturday until tomorrow, November 1, and some even extend them until the 2nd, All Souls’ Day, according to Catholic tradition. This Sunday, the usual day in which relatives come to place flowers on the graves of their loved ones, precisely because of the proximity of day 1, visits have multiplied in the different cemeteries, as have the prices of flowers, which, like every year, in the days around the feast of All Saints, they rise considerably. Many families have chosen to advance the laying of niches and tombs to avoid the crowds that are expected tomorrow in the cemeteries.
In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Santa Lastenia cemetery has extended its hours until six in the afternoon. From the City Council it is recommended to go by public transport, and with the flower arrangements already made to avoid crowds inside. This year, as happened last year, the cemetery of San Rafael and San Roque will remain closed as it is under construction. The mayor of Public Services, Carlos Tarife, points out that “from the City Council of Santa Cruz, a call is made to citizens to maintain prudence and avoid crowds in cemeteries, staggering visits throughout the authorized days. For this, the schedules are extended in the previous days and on November 1 itself.
In La Laguna, the musical setting is resumed in the municipal cemeteries, which also extend hours, so that the cemeteries of San Luis, San Juan, San Gregorio in Punta del Hidalgo, Valle de Guerra and Tejina will open their doors without interruption from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., both on Monday the 31st and on the 1st and 2nd of November.
The musical setting will be provided by groups formed for the occasion by members of the municipal music bands, who will perform at different times both in the San Luis and San Juan cemeteries, interpreting a repertoire of songs alluding to the day .
The mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, recalls that “the initiative to decorate these days with music has been so well received in previous years that we have decided to keep it as a hallmark around the Day of the Dead in our municipality.”
In El Rosario, the hours of the municipal cemetery of La Esperanza today and tomorrow will be from eight in the morning to eight in the afternoon, instead of from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. as usual. In the morning, the opening will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. In addition, it should be remembered that access to the cemetery is now completely free, without the need to request an appointment, as was done until last year due to the health restrictions imposed by the pandemic.
Santa Cruz activates line 932 to go to the Santa Lastenia cemetery
Titsa and the Santa Cruz City Council will launch line 932 in a timely manner, tomorrow, Tuesday, November 1, All Saints’ Day, to facilitate the transfer to the Santa Lastenia cemetery.
The service will start from the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Interchange starting at 07:05 in the morning and will remain operational until 18:00 in the afternoon, with journeys every hour. In the opposite direction, line 932 will make the first trip at 7:30 am and the last at 6:30 pm, with intervals of one hour.
The route of the line includes Avenida José Manuel Guimerá, the Mercado Nuestra Señora de África, Calderón de la Barca, Avenida 3 de Mayo, the neighborhoods of Los Gladiolos and Chamberí and, finally, the Santa Lastenia cemetery. The return route will run through Chamberí, Los Gladiolos, Manuel Hermoso Rojas, La Salle, Avenida San Sebastián, José Hernández Alfonso until reaching the Interchange.
Through this special service, Titsa and the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife want to respond to the high demand that occurs on this important date and contribute to promoting the use of the public service. In addition, the company reminds that people who want to go by bus to the Santa Lastenia Cemetery also have lines 903 and 923, with the hours of the holiday.
North
In the North zone, in La Orotava, the municipal cemetery will open from eight in the morning and until seven in the afternoon, requesting the City Council to the families that the cleaning and laying of the graves be carried out before tomorrow, All Day the Saints. This same request is made by the City Council of Puerto de la Cruz, a municipality in which the San Carlos cemetery will open from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. both today and tomorrow, while on Wednesday it will open until six in the afternoon.
In the neighboring municipality of Los Realejos, the three municipal cemeteries, San Agustín, located in the El Mocán-Realejo Alto area, San Francisco, in Realejo Bajo, and San Antonio in Icod el Alto, will open their doors from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and again on Wednesday, November 2, until 7:00 p.m. This municipality also incorporates the celebration of concerts inside the cemeteries.
In San Juan de la Rambla, both the municipal and ecclesiastical cemeteries opened on Saturday at 8 in the morning, and will not close their doors until 8 in the afternoon tomorrow. In addition, in this municipality the tradition of Los Santitos is recovered, a rambler custom that means that on the morning of All Saints Day, the streets of the Casco are filled with minors carrying wicker baskets decorated by themselves where they store the gifts they receive door to door. , because each neighbor tries to have them prepared the day before.
South
In the south of the Island, municipalities such as Candelaria report that the municipal cemeteries of Santa Sabina (Candelaria), San José (Barranco Hondo) and San Francisco (Igueste) will extend their opening hours until Wednesday, November 2, seven from morning to ten in the afternoon.
In Adeje, the cemeteries will open from eight in the morning to six in the afternoon and on November 1 and 2 it will open from eight in the morning to eight at night, in this way, people will have more hours to go To the cemetery. While in Arona the cemetery will open until November 2 from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
