The Villa of La Orotava Think about your major festivals, which will live your big week between June 12 and 18. With just over a month and a half to go before the celebration takes to the streets, the town council hosted this Tuesday the presentation of the design of the most iconic element of these festivities: the great tapestry of Teide lands that each year occupies almost a thousand square meters of the town hall square, where the first lines of the design have already begun to be drawn. A work of religious art that this year will also offer a social and environmental message, with nods to the fight against cancer, the reuse of plastic waste and those affected by the Tajogaite volcano, in La Palma. As has been the case since 2019, old materials that fell into disuse will be used in this ephemeral art exhibition and will be seen again in the square some flowers, limpet and burgado shells, as well as dates and eucalyptus bags. Again, the black will be put by the ashes of the last volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands.
The central element of this design will be the monumental tabernacle of the main chapel of the Parish of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, a neoclassical element that will be 200 years old in 2023. It was built in the workshop of Giuseppe Gaggini in Genoa (Italy) with materials such as marble and jasper. On both sides of the tapestry, two of the most revered images of the Villa: San Isidro Labrador and Maria Auxiliadora, already crowned.
Since the year 2019
The director of the tapestry, Domingo Gonzalez Exposito, has indicated that this rug will be the last of a concept that began to be worked on in 2019 by recovering the old materials, the memory of the first rug made more than a century ago and a design structure that has maintained the triangle as the main Referrer. The forecast for this year is that 15 colors of natural sands from the Teide National Park and the black color of La Palma ash. In addition, since it is the first carpet made on the new pavement of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, “the reeds will not stick to the ground but to another material that will be placed so as not to damage the new natural stone tiles.”
The tabernacle of La Concepción, María Auxiliadora and San Isidro will occupy the main spaces
He Tribute to cancer patients and groups that work to reduce the negative effects of this disease It will be in the shape of two small pink triangles of about 1.5 square meters each. For the first time, citizen collaboration is requested to obtain part of the material with which the carpet will be made: pink plastic. The council will place a container in the area of the square so that people who wish to collaborate can deposit pink plastic bottles (empty) and bottle caps or any other pink plastic. “On the one hand there is awareness in the fight against cancer and at the same time in raising awareness to protect our environment,” they emphasize from the Consistory. All this material will be crushed before being used as a new contribution to the tapestry.
In the presentation of this Tuesday, April 25, 2023, the mayor of La Orotava, Francisco Linares (CC); the Councilor for Fiestas, Alexis Pacheco (CC); the parish priest of the Church of the Conception, Honorio J. Camposand the director of the tapestry, Domingo Gonzalez Exposito. Also present were several members of the artearena collectivewhich will be in charge of making the carpet before June 15, when the Infraoctave of Corpus Christi is celebrated.
2023 Design Details
There will be a large flower border around the central tapestry, made with flowers such as lilies and lilies. Mary Help of Christians will be the central figure of the tapestry on the right, on the occasion of her recent canonical coronation and the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Salesians in the Villa. At the bottom of the sky of that tapestry, where you can see a print of the snowy Teidethey will be the colors of the rainbow “to remember diversity and inclusion”. On the tapestry on the left will be again this year the image of San Isidro, in the hope that “acknowledgment from the Vatican of his official appointment as patron can be obtained as soon as possible.” After the image, wands of magicians to remember the 25 years of the Brotherhood of Farmers of San Isidro. Again, in the background, once again the image of Teide, as a tribute to his historic contribution of land and as a symbol of the link between both images with the municipality where the highest peak in Spain is located.
This year land from Teide, ashes from La Palma, flowers and old materials will be used again
Among the strictly religious motifs, there is the representation of the four evangelists in four small tapestries 3.5 meters in diameter that will be made by the four youngest carpet makers from the Artearena team. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John They will appear represented by the figure of an angel, a lion, a calf and an eagle.
letters and symbols
The border of the central tapestry is prolonged forming a letter A, in recognition of the Virgin Mary Help of Christians, while the M, for Mary, will be made in orange colors. Furthermore, that letter is the symbology of a ribbon of magician’s wands. The shape of the letter M also appears in the lower part of the design, «providing this part with greater strength by the use of colors, vertically, which represent the typical skirt of the magas of the orotava». This reference to traditional clothing is also a continuation of last year’s design, when some details of the wizard vest appeared.
In the upper part of the large tapestry, another symbol of the Villa can be seen: «A white line, which forms the mat of the side tapestries, joins with the triangular finial, forming a simple shape that represents the City Hall building».
