La Orotava has exhibited and valued the wool trade in Canary Islands. During the tenth edition of the Festival de la Lana de Canarias, which took place this week in the municipality, some twenty artisans from all over the island have had the opportunity to show the general public both their products and the way in which they work with this fiber.
Throughout the last day, held yesterday, the thematic craft fair drew the attention of a large audience. And it is that during the day various didactic workshops were carried out such as sounds with wool, knitting (Bejeque shawl), crochet, rosettes of Tenerife, Andean cords or round loom. Visitors were also able to enjoy the different phases of the wool process live: sheep shearing, wool washing, carding, picking, spinning and weaving. This edition, as it was extended to all the Islands, was attended by peelers from El Hierro such as Aurelio Cabrera, Guanyxemar Quintero and Alberto gonzalez and from Gran Canaria, like Airam Rivero, who is also a narrator of these customs. “This fair is an opportunity to continue promoting the use and benefit of this natural fiber, as well as the authentic works of art created by these artisans,” said the mayor of La Villa, Francisco Linares. On the other hand, he recalled that this type of project values the use and importance of this material, while at the same time allowing the recovery of the hallmarks associated with this trade and the survival of some species of sheep that were close to the extinction. Lastly, he highlights the educational, sustainability, equality, environmental protection, ethnographic and recovery values of the Canarian cultural heritage.
