The Historic Center of Granadilla de Abona went back in time yesterday. Arquitecto Marrero street, near the Town Hall, woke up like those days when children spent more time in the streets than at home. Chalk-painted floors, ready to jump on hopscotch, boards with wheels to slide down the hill, wooden horses, balls made from banana peels and even a giant domino.
Those strange toys away from technology that today absorbs most of the play time of the little ones, draw the attention of the few children in the area who are encouraged – on a particularly rainy day – to approach that unique representation of the traditions Canary Islands Through the game. This activity is part of the Granadilla de Abona: Cradle of Traditions initiative, organized by the Department of Historical Heritage of the municipal council whose head is Fredi Oramas. “It is an opportunity to recall the life of yesteryear while offering the possibility to the little ones to know another era already gone”, highlights the councilor.
The activity is aimed at transmitting the past of the inhabitants of the Island to the little ones
In the street, besides a complete display of vintage toys, there are several volunteers from the La Escalera Cultural Collective dressed in traditional Canarian dresses. “Our job is to maintain and spread the traditions of the island, because they are part of the identity of our people,” says Inmaculada Hernández, one of the spokespersons for this group who has been working for 27 years to recover the ethnographic history of the Canary Islands.
Hand in hand with his father, a child approaches the toys with some suspicion. His attention has been drawn to a wheelbarrow in which bowling alleys of different sizes and bright colors and what look like fruit pits have been stored, but he is too afraid to go near it. His father, who has noticed this, bends down to pick up a few colored marbles. He puts them in his hand. “I played this when I was your age,” he explains to the boy’s watchful eyes.
Another little girl, who has already tried several games, sits on the ground next to a man dressed in the typical clothes of the 20th century in the Canary Islands, the traditional magician costume. The man, who is a member of the association, immediately responds to the girl’s attention and begins to instruct her on what she must do to properly use a giant hand-painted wooden domino. “You just have to find that they have the same number,” he explains. After a brief startled look, the girl excitedly begins to play.
“The role of grandparents and parents is fundamental, their experiences must be able to be transmitted between generations,” sums up Mielina García, coordinator of the cultural group. She knows it well, because she works in a children’s education center where she has been able to see how children are increasingly removed from the Canarian tradition. Although the school curriculum often does not make it easy, in this last year she has decided that, in each activity, the children have to ask their grandparents.
“For example, if we talk about food, we ask them to talk to their grandparents and parents to see how they ate at the time,” García reports. This working group, based in La Orotava, is very committed to the recovery of traditions, which is why they view the current situation with some fear. “With globalization we are losing our identity while we assume one that does not correspond to us,” adds Hernández.
A sample of black and white photographs recalls the traditional island trades
Nearby, emerging from the San Luis Obispo Franciscan Convent, you can see a musical thread that surrounds the González Mena square. The voice of Dulce Barrios, the timple of Alba Chávez and the guitar of Jonay Marrero sing melodies in honor of each one of the islands. The attendees, sitting around the convent’s Canarian patio – trying to avoid the rain – receive the first glasses of a dry white wine from the Bento family winery.
The winemaker Maeva Tendero He explains to attendees the characteristics of that nectar grown in the same lands where they are. Tendero explains that it is the sunny conditions throughout the year that allow the grapes to have that flavor; although the rainy day does not do justice to that eternal summer.
Black and white photographs also hang from the walls of the convent, showing men and women from the municipality working in more common trades from bygone eras, such as pottery, fishermen or basket makers. Precisely after lunch, a training workshop was held to introduce the rosette and traditional pottery to disseminate this art that is gradually being lost. The artisan Guiomar Zurita and the El Tenique Collective, respectively, showed attendees the secrets to mastering these artisan techniques. Techniques that “came to life” a little later in a theatrical route that returned knowledge about these trades.
