Tenerife will celebrate on August 15 the festivities in honor of Our Lady of Candelaria. However, there are several celebrations that are organized throughout the year on the Island to honor the Patron of Canary Islands. Also Known As the brunette It has its festivals in February and August, but why are they celebrated in August?
The image of the Virgin of Candelaria appeared 95 years before the conquest in the municipality of Guimar, in Tenerife. According to legend, two shepherds guanches -name with which the ancient inhabitants of the Island are known- they located the image at the mouth of the Chimisay ravine when they tried to lock up the cattle in a cave.
Despite the fact that the Spanish conquerors established February 2 as the day to celebrate the feast of the Virgin of Candelaria, a date that coincides with the Christian commemoration of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Purification of the Virgin Mary, the truth is that The Guanches already celebrated events in honor of the Virgin during the festival of beñesmen in August.
What did the Guanches celebrate in August?
The Guanches referred to the month of August as beñesmen either benesmer and, in addition, this word also gave name to the celebrations that the town carried out during August for the harvesting of the crops. This is the reason why some historians consider that the celebrations that will take place on August 14 and 15 in the municipality of candlemas In honor to the brunette They are a kind of memory of the ancient festival of the Guanche people.
Currently, August 15 appears in the Spanish work calendar as a holiday, since the autonomous communities celebrate
