A curious mural adorns one of the walls of the Ciudad Deportiva Los Laureles in Teguera: “Kiss me until Tegueste has a beach”. Not only does it arouse the attention of the people who pass through it, it is also a way of inquiring about the municipality’s curious relationship with the sea and how it has always been firm in its desire to remain independent.
Only three Tenerife municipalities lack access to the sea, Vilaflor, El Tanque and Tegueste. The latter, moreover, is surrounded by La Laguna, to whom it could have belonged, as well as to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, but the Teguesteros said no. They also said it on several occasions throughout their history.
Attempts to annex La Laguna
During the 19th century, around the two most important towns on the Island, several municipalities disappeared, as are the cases, for example, of Tejina, Valle de Guerra and Punta del Hidalgo. According to María Jesús Luis Yanes, archivist of the Tegueste City Council, this was due to issues such as the “lack of own property or the illiteracy of the neighbors”, as was the case with the aforementioned municipalities, but the reality is that Tegueste always refused to be annexed by La Laguna.
As Luis Yanes collects, in 1838, José María Rodríguez, interim mayor, proposed for the first time that union with La Laguna. The reason was simple: they did not have enough funds to pay the secretary. The popular response to continue being independent is not long in coming, the neighbors gather the necessary amount to face the payment. It is the first time that they say no to La Laguna.
Only three years later, the Provincial Council once again attempted the unification of several municipalities, one of them Tegueste, due to issues such as poverty. With a population of 1,000 inhabitants, the municipality responded that “the existing rights of this town in the enjoyment of the waters, pastures and mountains that they respectively belong to are well defined and attended to.” Sometimes there was still a lack of money to pay the secretary, but it was covered with popular contributions. Tegueste again responded negatively.
The neighbors continue to oppose
In 1852, Agustín Hernández, councilor at the time of the City Council, appeared in Santa Cruz de Tenerife to suppress the Consistory, but 40 residents, upon finding out, rejected this option again.
The votes were not as we know them now, moreover, in a vote carried out that year only the “eight largest taxpayers” voted at the request of the councilor. He did not win by 5 to 3, but, although he may surprise, only a few days later he tries again. On this occasion, the councilors and taxpayers would vote, the fact is that the refusal prevailed again, this time by 9 to 4. As a curious fact, on this occasion Agustín Hernández changes, going from being one of the promoters of yes to deciding for he does not.
But the Provincial Council acknowledged being “dissatisfied” with the way of voting “or what would be worse, with the result of it”, as stated by María Jesús Luis Yanes. The solution? Back to the polls. “A new vote is carried out, this time with the double of the highest taxpayers compared to the Corporation, perhaps because it was clear that the members of the City Council would oppose it?” The point is that nothing changes: by 17 votes against and only 5 in favor, Tegueste will continue to be independent.
The minutes kept by the Northern Consistory include the reasons that were offered at the time of voting and the “lack of suitable people to hold positions” was the majority option among those who wanted that union with the lagoons and lagoons.
Forests -with great importance of Pedro Álvarez-, waters and roads, were the three great aspects dealt with in the plenary minutes, which could have caused this annexation, but the reality is that Tegueste, until today, continues to be an independent municipality.
Tegueste and the sea
What do carts in the shape of boats do in the festivities of an inland municipality? The boats are part every year of the town’s patron saint festivals, San Marcos and Nuestra Señora de los Remedios.
The boats of Tegueste are part of the religious and festive culture of the town since ancient times. Authentic distinctive symbols of their identity, they blend centuries of history and traditions. The first issue of the Tegueste Municipal Archive Bulletin reports the existence in said archive of documents of an administrative nature that place the tradition on the year 1600.
The Prebendary Antonio Pereira Pachecoparish priest of this town between 1842 and 1858, in his manuscript History of Tegueste, points out livery, dance, loas and boats as ancestral custom. He describes that at the festival there are “little boys who liven up the square, the fireworks the night before, some peasant hors d’oeuvres, and, above all, the ancient custom of running the night before and in the morning, after the procession of some boats pulled by oxen, which creates the fascination and gathering of these people and if it were removed, the attendance at the festival would undoubtedly cease”.
According to Agustín González, deputy director of DIARIO DE AVISOS, there are various explanations in this regard: “These boats, typically peasants, are pulled by teams of oxen, sail on wheels and, for some, they are seafaring, for others they are a consequence of the obsession that generated in the past the presence of a sail on the horizon. This vision, since pre-Hispania, put the people of the town in tension because it represented the threat of a possible invasion, attack by pirates or, at least, raids of slaves, cattle, as well as fires and looting.
Why the confusion that Tegueste has a beach?
If you type in a search engine “beaches of Tegueste” you will be redirected to pages, especially related to tourism, in which, generally, Jóver (Tejina) or Benijo are mentioned. Places near Tegueste are cited, something that has caused confusion that has been, on occasions, sounded.
It is simply a commercial strategy that can be misleading when a visitor arrives in the beautiful town of Tegueste.
David Bernabéu, a sports journalist, after the debut of Pedri from Tenerife with the Spanish soccer team, pointed out that he should celebrate it “on the Tegueste beach”, which provoked the comments of numerous users.
Make your debut as a starter with Spain and do it as if you were having a vermouth on the Tegueste beach at 12 noon. Pedro Gonzalez. Pedro. A chosen one.
— David Bernabeu Reverter (@DBR8) March 28, 2021
The motif of the wall
But, going back to the beginning of the text: what is the reason for the mural that asks for kisses until Tegueste has a beach? Behind him is one of the most interesting cultural festivals in Tenerife.
Emerged in 2016, Soplo de Letras was born “with the intention of encompassing everything that the word reaches, and it has achieved it”. He advocates a geographical decentralization of the artistic and cultural scene, which favors the local, personal and professional development of the inhabitants of different municipalities through culture.
“El Soplo has to serve as a showcase for all these professionals, to make visible each work related to words, promoting personal and close dialogue between creators and active public”, the creators point out to infotegueste.com. The same was done by @betoalaboquilla.
