50.000 attended Fiestas Lustrales

The highlight of the Fiestas Lustrales is the arrival of the Virgen de Guadalupe by boat procession
(Images: gomeranoticias.com)

The recent Fiestas Lustrales, held in San Sebastian de La Gomera and around the island every five years to celebrate the 'bajada' of La Gomera's patron saint 'Virgen de Guadalupe', attracted more than 50.000 revellers to the many events held from late September to mid October. This is all the more remarkable when you consider that La Gomera's total population is only 20.000. The highlight of the Fiestas Lustrales is the arrival of the saint by boat procession from her remote coastal chapel north of the capital and the following procession through the town. According to the mayor of the town Adasat Reyes the many visitors are supposed to have spent more than five million Euros in San Sebastian de La Gomera during the long fiesta period.

Salsa pop music marathon

Typical salsa group

La Gomera's patron saint La Virgen de Guadalupe continues her procession through all the parishes of the island and will travel to the town of Chipude today. Next week she will come to Valle Gran Rey and a big fiesta will be held in her honour. The main event will be a marathon of American-style salsa-pop groups (called orchestras here). Nine of these 'orchestra-bands' (well, at least one of them being a one-man-band with full orchestra sound coming out of his keyboards) will play modern salsa-pop from 10.30pm until the following morning competing for the dancers and for the highest possible volume. The 'marathon' event takes place in the harbour of Vueltas on Saturday Nov.2nd 2013 and will guarantee a sleepless night for residents there and revellers' sore legs from the the shuffle-dancing or standing around the drinks stalls. We won't mention what all the cuba libres can cause...

 Setting-up the salsa for another fiesta in Valle Gran Rey recently. This is only a fraction of the gear of just 2 bands!

Six children hospitalised after funfair incident

© Diario de Avisos

Six children were taken to hospital after an incident at a funfair which was erected in San Sebastian de La Gomera for  the Fiestas Lustrales, being celebrated now in honour of the island's patron saint Virgen de Guadalupe. The children were enjoying the 'Dragon' ride just before 7.30pm last night when an electrical fault on one of the cars caused a 'considerable' shower of sparks. Five children of around ten years of age had to be treated for burns and a sixth was treated for shock. All are said to be recovering well.

Mother of all fiestas on La Gomera

Programme

After countless fiestas over the summer and one major celebration (Alajero) ongoing, now is the time for the 'big one' to begin. This is the Fiestas Lustrales, when the island saint Virgen de Guadalupe is going on a procession to every community on the island. This event happenes only once every five years and is called a 'bajada'. There are numerous religious, sports, cultural and popular events taking place to mark the occasion. The programme is stretched over a period of three months (!), starting tomorrow and finishin on December 14th when the Virgen de Guadalupe returns home to the peace and quiet of her little chapel by the sea at a remote beach north of the capital. Some events will even be shown on TV and thousands are expected to travel here to attend. In the island's capital San Sebastian de la Gomera it will be difficult to find accommodation for the main events. Due to the financial crisis this year's programme is not quite as ambitious as that of the last Fiestas Lustrales in 2008. That time even international top acts like Alpha Blondie

Alpha Blondie, La Gomera '08

were seen on La Gomera between gigs in New York and Paris. However this year's programme will see another good reggae night with two bands, several folklore music events, classical, rock and pop, world music and the ubiquitous salsa music nights. All that is framed by art events, exhibitions, fairs, sports events, etc.,etc, and topped up with a massive fireworks display. 
...and I forgot to mention that another fiesta runs for 10 days from Sat., Sept.14th 2013, in Agulo. You just can't keep up with all of them...