SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Dec. 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The XXVIII International Festival of the Tale of Los Silos in 2023 will be held from December 5 to 9 and will be dedicated to bestiaries, collections or compendiums of fabulous animals that were very popular in the Middle Ages such as dragons, griffins, centaurs, mermaids or unicorns.
However, the organization of the festival wants to give relevance not only to the commonly known European bestiary, but especially to the Canarian bestiary, “very forgotten”, in the words of the director, Ernesto Rodríguez Abad.
Thus, he mentions elements of the popular tradition of the islands such as the devil from San Bartolomé, from Buenavista del Norte, the hairy eel from Anaga, the devils of liveries, the rams from Tigaday or the light from Mafasca, without forgetting numerous legends with guirres, crows, corujas and other animals as protagonists, “many magical animals in the Canary Islands that have not been paid attention to”, recalls the director in a note.
The popularity of bestiaries was very notable in countries like France and England from the 12th century, although ‘The Physiologist’ is considered the first bestiary known in the West, anonymously authored but dated between the 2nd and 4th centuries, probably, in Alexandria.
The festival management has also announced the illustrator of the 2023 International Short Story Festival poster, a local author, Patricia Delgado, an artisan, a graduate in Fine Arts from the University of La Laguna and a teacher of Graphic Arts* from the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen from Belgium.
He has specialized in engraving for more than 20 years, a technique in which he seeks innovation based on tradition and has exhibited in numerous galleries, art rooms and specialized stores.
In addition, it participates in editions for international exchange projects reserved for collections, foundations, and public and private organizations.
His is the illustration of the cover of ‘While the oranges ripen’ (Diego Pun Ediciones, 2017), the novel by Cecilia Domínguez set in Los Silos and which is present in the form of a mosaic in the literary alleys of the town.
In the edition that has just ended, nearly 6,000 tickets have been sold, not counting the large audience that attended the activities in squares and alleys or visited the book fair, in addition to the 4,500 students who participated in school visits, of which that 3,000 did it in person.
