The town of La Esperanza, specifically the surroundings of the central street La Sardinera, became a meeting point for goatherds, shepherds, and tradition lovers in Tenerife on the morning of Saturday, March 30th. The Livestock Fair, included in the ninth edition of El Rosario’s Traditions Day, was a successful event with a showcase of some of the most impressive livestock specimens from the Island’s cattle herds. The fair featured cows and bulls from municipalities with a strong agricultural heritage, such as La Laguna, Tegueste, Tacoronte, and of course, El Rosario.
Nearly thirty goatherds, with their oxen, and several shepherds with their flocks of goats and sheep, took center stage throughout the morning in an exhibition that aimed to shine a light on the primary sector, which has fed many mouths in a municipality closely tied to the rural world like El Rosario. However, livestock farming is an increasingly challenging activity today, due to rising livestock maintenance costs and the fact that few young people continue the tradition inherited from previous generations, passed down by their parents and grandparents.
El Rosario’s Mayor, Escolástico Gil, knows this well, having been a cook before entering politics, and is familiar with the sacrifices demanded by the day-to-day activities in this sector, as well as the challenges it faces to survive in today’s world. “I experienced it as a child in my home and I know perfectly well the hard work involved. Animals don’t understand holidays or vacations and they need to be fed and cared for every day,” explains the Mayor, who is aware that, “without livestock fairs or rural festivals, the cattle would eventually disappear.”
The event last Saturday, sponsored by the company Egatesa and with the collaboration of Gofio La Molineta, also had an educational aspect. Like a classroom in nature, many city children opened their eyes wide, amazed to learn that a bull can weigh over 800 kilos, or to see, for the first time, a demonstration of threshing in the specially arranged threshing area in the venue.
Herd of goats along one of the streets of El Rosario. / E. D.
Alongside these spectacles for those not accustomed to seeing them, there was also time for music, thanks to the live radio broadcast of Rumberos FM; a demonstration of kneading gofio balls in a sack or tasting roasted meat, chickpea dishes and local wine.
And of course, there’s no livestock without goatherds. Escolástico Gil was in charge of giving gifts to each of the participants, thanking them for “their commitment to preserving the work of the countryside and continuing to uphold a way of life closely tied to the land and the preservation of our rural environment.” Special mention goes to the tribute paid to Vicente Acosta Torres “for a lifetime dedicated to shepherding and preserving our livestock traditions.”
This homage last Saturday was preceded by another the week before, honouring the shepherds Hilario Barrios Estévez, Kiko, and Ángel Eulalio Domínguez Díaz, distinguished during a concert by Grupo Añate, from La Victoria, the soloist Ciro Corujo, and the timple player from Fuerteventura Domingo Rodríguez El Colorao, for being “two individuals who, despite the difficulties, continue to perform this endangered work that requires a lot of sacrifice and effort to carry out. Especially in the times we live in.”
The musical part of the Traditions Day also saw the presence of the President of the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (Fecam), María Concepción Brito, and the councillor for Employment, Education, and Youth of the Tenerife Island Council, Efraín Medina. The Traditions Day took place on two consecutive Saturdays due to the inclement weather that forced the livestock exhibition to be postponed.
