The Guanches Ceremony returned to star yesterday in the first great act of the festivities of the Virgin of Candelaria. The Plaza de la Patrona de Canarias hosted the theatrical representation of the discovery of the Virgina ceremony whose origin has more than 200 years of experience, and which is carried out by the group of Los Guanches de Candelaria, many of them descendants of the first settlers of the Island.
Not all historians agree on the place and date of appearance of the image of the Virgin of Candelaria. However, most agree with the first chronicler of the Virgin, Fray Alonso de Espinosa, in that the venerated image was discovered on a small rock that emerged from the sand on the beach of Chimisay (today El Socorro), on the coast of Güímar, from where it was later taken to the Auchón del Mencey Acaymo in Chinguaro and, later, to the Achbinico Cave, in Candelaria, a town where it will remain, not without suffering serious ups and downs, to date, with image changes that often they were not understood, recalls the official chronicler of the municipality, Octavio Rodríguez.
In front of a large audience, defying the heat, slowed down by the sea breeze, with hundreds of pilgrims who came to the Villa from different corners of Tenerife, most of them to fulfill some promise, the group of Guanches from Candelaria represented the discovery, based on the story about the apparition of the Virgin by fray Alonso de Espinosa, published at the end of the 16th century, specifically in 1594.
The representation tells of the finding by two Guanche shepherds of an image of a woman with a child in her arms on a rock, when they were preparing to lead the cattle to the seashore. Being forbidden to talk to a woman in a deserted place, the shepherds signal for her to get away from her, but the woman remains motionless without responding to her requests.
One of the shepherds tries to throw a stone at him and his arm goes stiff. The other herdsman attempts to wound her with his tabona (knife), though, to his astonishment, he wounds himself.
Surprised, they go to look for the Güímar mencey, whose vassals they were. The two shepherds tell the mencey Acaymo the facts, showing their stiff arms as proof. The mencey, accompanied by part of his people, decides to go down from Chinguaro to Chimisay to check what they told him, being amazed by the majesty of the image. Despite trying to communicate, he does not respond. He then decides to move her to his cave in Chinguaro and tells the two shepherds who found her to carry her there, and when they touch her they are healed of their wounds, he tells the story or the legend.
Filled with joy at the discovery and the miracle witnessed, the Guanches jump with their spears and touch the bucios in honor of the image that they will call Chaxiraxi, and that will remain in Chinguaro until the conquest of the island of Tenerife, when it is transferred to Candelaria.
After the end of the theatrical performance, the night procession to El Pozo began, accompanied by the Las Candelas Band, various authorities and a large audience, many of them emotional, with tears in their eyes. The Patron Saint returned to the Basilica around midnight, where the Guanches knelt before her and bid her farewell with devotion and joy until next year, while Chago Melián sang Ave María from the balcony of the Old Town Hall, giving way to the concert Noche de Parrandas, in memory of Rosaura Marrero Fariña, with partygoers and soloists from all over the Island, like the pilgrims, who as night fell continued to arrive at the feet of the Patron Saint, who wore a spectacular coral-colored cloak.
