Came the day. Tegueste once again celebrated this Sunday with all its splendor the pilgrimage in honor of San Marcos Evangelista, always one of the most crowded of Tenerife. The last time that the municipality had surrendered without limit to customs was on May 5, 2019. In 2020 the pandemic broke out, in 2021 and 2022 the acts were limited and this Sunday, finally, the boats, carts and cars paraded again . Locality, party, magician costumes, gastronomy… they shook hands at the appointment.
Two hours before the pilgrimage began, there was already an atmosphere and, as the moment approached, more and more people gathered in the center of the municipality. There were many who opted for the public transport. The buses stopped at the Pedro Álvarez roundabout and the pilgrims walked to the epicenter of the party. There were those who already dared from that point to sing the first songs to warm up their engines for what would come later. One of the organizational novelties was a row of cones along the sidewalk of the main road to prevent cars from parking on it and so that those who arrived by bus could cover the route to the town without problem.
At 12:00 the celebration of the Eucharist took place in the church of San Marcos. “The beginning we have is that the day will be strong with heat and people,” explained at that point in the morning the Councilor for Fiestas, Eladia López. “We are waiting for the religious function to end so that the long-awaited pilgrimage begins after this pandemic,” she said, before noting that the minimum influx they expected was about 30,000 people. “That is why there is a fairly broad deployment of security,” said the Teguera mayor, closely linked to local tradition and who was even moved to remember that this is the first pilgrimage without restrictions that they can carry out after the pandemic.
One of the hallmarks of the festivities in honor of San Marcos resides in the care with which carts and wagons are prepared. They are weeks and months of work in which the decorative panels are meticulously made with seeds and other elements. The complete list of boats, cars and carts participating in the Romería was made up of the boats from Tegueste, San Luis, Pedro Álvarez and El Socorro, as well as the cars or carts from Pedro Álvarez, Las Canteras, El Mocán, El Gamonal, El Murgaño, Los Binchenis, Teófilo Pérez School, La Pedrera, Imidahuem, La Gorgolana, El Cantillo, Teguazo, La Canocha, La Peña, El Molino, La Padilla, Los Currillos, Tesegue, Achineche, Chinijos, La Golisma, El Garabato and Isizo .
