Fire-jumping fiesta

The picturesque town of Agulo in La Gomera's north will celebrate the highlight of the annual Fiesta de San Marcos', the spectacular fire-jumping event, tomorrow night Saturday 28th of April 2018 (see promotional video below). Following an old custom the fires are lit in honour of the town's patron saint San Marcos every year, and many of the town's population are rising to the challenge and jump over the bonfires. Visitors are welcome to join in and there's even a version with smaller fires for the children. If you're a bit older or just not as daring, you can wait until the fires have burnt down a bit and try the 'light' version. The organisers recommend to cover your hair and avoid wearing flammable synthetics. The bonfires will be lit following the procession and mass in the centre of Agulo.

After the spectacular fire-jumping, there'll be general merriment and dancing to live music all night, and and plenty of cold drinks to quench the thirst resulting from the bonfires. I can reveal that this year a Canadian film crew who are shooting a documentary about La Gomera intend to capture what must be La Gomera's most captivating and spectacular fiesta during its main event.

Jumping through fire

Following an old custom the fires are lit in the town of Agulo on La Gomera in honour of the town's patron saint San Marcos on April 24th every year, and many of the town's population are rising to the challenge and jump over the bonfires. Visitors are welcome to join in tonight and there's even a version with smaller fires for the children. If you're a bit older or just not as daring, you can wait until the fires have burnt down a bit and try the 'light' version. The organisers recommend to cover your hair and avoid wearing flammable synthetics.

After the spectacular fire-jumping, there'll be dancing all night and and plenty of cold drinks to quench the resulting thirst..

Fire-jumping tomorrow in Agulo

Tomorrow at 10pm you'll have the annual opportunity again to test your faith and jump through the bonfires (hogueras) at the San Marcos Fiesta.  Make sure to avoid wearing clothes that are highly flammable and cover your hair. The fire-jumping custom on La Gomera is very old and probably pre-dates the arrival of Christianity in the Canaries.

El Silbo featured in Daily Mail article and in video

La Gomera's whistled language El Silbo is featured in a recent article of the Daily Mail which includes the video below produced by the government of the Canaries. Read it HERE and see my previous post on the subject El Silbo - La Gomera's Unique Language

La Gomera's own Romeo and Juliet: Gara and Jonay

According to legend, on the Guanches festival Beñesmen the girls of La Gomera would go to the Epina jets to discover their future lover. If the reflected image was calm and clear, this meant that within the next 12 months they would find their love, but if the reflection was cloudy, no handsome lover would be shortly appearing on the horizon.

Gara was a beautiful princess from La Gomera, the place of water.  When she looked at her reflection her image was clear but then her face became a fiery sun and the water viciously bubbled and boiled – not good signs as it meant only disaster lay ahead.

For the Beñesmen festival the menceyes (Guanche royalty) travelled from Tenerife, the land of fire, to La Gomera to take part in the celebrations. The Mencey of Adeje was accompanied by his son, Prince Jonay, who took part in all the competitions and when Gara and Jonay saw each other they fell madly in love.

Legend tells how Jonay sailed his raft every day to the neighbouring island to visit his love, but their happiness was short lived. The great volcano on Tenerife began spewing out lava, the sea around La Gomera turned blood-red and the Epina jets prophecy was remembered. Gara and Jonay’s love was impossible, the fury of the volcano was confirmation that water and fire should not mix.

The couple’s parents forbade them to meet again and forced Jonay to return to Tenerife but Jonay couldn’t forget Gara. He needed to be with her. In the middle of the night, Jonay tied two inflated goats’ hides around his waist and swam across the sea. Exhausted but guided by his love for Gara he reached La Gomera.

Gara and Jonay fled through the forests hiding in the woods until they reached the highest mountain on the island. When Gara’s father found out, he ordered his army to follow and surround them.

Neither of the two could find a way out of their situation so in a last desperate act they took a lance made of laurel, sharpened at both ends, held it between their chests and in a final deadly embrace drove the stick through their hearts. The lovers met their deaths and Gara, the water and Jonay, the fire were one, their spirits united forever.

Today, the mountain, the beautiful misty forest and its national park go by the name Garajonay in memory of the young couple who chose death rather than living apart.

                                        -----------------------------------

NOTE: I had planned a post about Gara and Jonay when I found the legend beautifully told on  Red Queen Musings  and as I'm in a lazy mood today, I've just copied it above - with many thanks to the Red Queen.

Video: Vaulting the bonfires in Agulo

Fancy jumping through these fires ?

Jumping the bonfires in Agulo, La Gomera 

Well, if you really fancy jumping over or through the bonfires seen in the image on the left, then make sure you'll be be in the picturesque town of Agulo on La Gomera on Wednesday, 24th of April 2013. Following an old custom the fires are lit in honour of the town's patron saint San Marcos every year, and many of the town's population are rising to the challenge and jump over the bonfires. Visitors are welcome to join in and there's even a version with smaller fires for the children. If you're a bit older or just not as daring, you can wait until the fires have burnt down a bit and try the 'light' version. The organisers recommend to cover your hair and avoid wearing flammable synthetics.
After the spectacular fire-jumping, there'll be dancing all night and and plenty of cold drinks to quench the resulting thirst.. For full festival programme and more about Agulo (in Spanish) click THIS.

Live Music on La Gomera: Soon a thing of the past ? Updated

 When I first came to La Gomera many years ago all the buses on the island were displaying the motto 'La Gomera es musica', which doesn't need any translation. There was a vibrant live music scene and music of all kinds was freely played and enjoyed by locals and visitors. 

Over the past few years this was more and more curtailed by the authorities and a lot of spontaneity and 'joie de vivre' was lost. Occasionally music sessions and live gigs happened in phases when all seemed to start up again, but over the past few weeks  the quietest music was banned and even paying customers who had a bit of a music session were told by police to stop the music. Owners of bars and restaurants were threatened with huge fines and/or closure, even though they kept the volume down and stopped the music strictly at 11pm ! In most tourism-dependent communities around the world live entertainment is just getting into full swing at that time. 

Paradoxically the salsa bands that frequently play outdoors at extremely loud levels all over the island are allowed to continue at full blast until daybreak, while tax-paying publicans and restaurant owners are finding it hard to attract customers to their premises without live music. A campaign for live music has begun and posters in three languages with slogans like 'Everybody loves music' have appeared in many locations.

There is also an important economic factor attached, as La Gomera was attracting more and more holidaying professional musicians who were looking for an inspiring and interesting place to travel to, and they were also known to be good spenders. They don't necessarily need and/or want to play music during their holidays, but they do want to be entertained and want to have at least the possibility to join in some fun. 'Music tourism' could be a major new source of revenue for La Gomera.

Every day I get asked by tourists where there is live music to be found, and daily I have to listen to complaints by regular visitors that La Gomera and particularly Valle Gran Rey used to have a much better atmosphere and ambience a few years back. The 'Valle Luna' festival did not receive any funding nor logistical support this year while thousands were spent on glossy, but ill-translated brochures.  Does La Gomera really want to loose its diversity and appeal ? 

At the moment it doesn't look too good but I urge the authorities to allow people to have some small measure of live entertainment in these grim times of crisis and to interpret some repressive laws a little bit more leniently ! This is done in tourist destinations all over the world - some just a short hop away.

There won't be any messing by the musicians on La Gomera anyway...

I just hope the following clip and images will not be the last I took of music sessions and events here:

Musicians leaving  La Gomera on
Armas Ferry for another Canary Island

Local music and tradition needs
to be alive and not in a museum !

The fascination of music

Added 27-04-13:
Lately a few (very few) pub gigs were allowed again, but some of the conditions were just ridiculous. Some had to be held on the pavement outside and in front of the premises ! In one case the venue was given a short strip of pavement to a width of just 3 feet on which the musician(s) were allowed to play just outside the door, as the image below proves:

Red arrow points to white demarcation line on the pavement within which the musician(s)
must remain outdoors. Not only the two tourists behind the guitarist find this rule ridiculous.

Good News 16-05-13:

It has been confirmed that the Valle Luna Festival will take place again in 2014. See:VALLE LUNA FESTIVAL 2014

Update summer '13:

Things are gradually improving and some live music is still happening here and more is promised for the autumn/winter season. The photo below was taken in July showing former resident Claus Vaith playing live with his friend Malte during a short visit to La Gomera. Claus used to play regularly during his many years on La Gomera and now plays professionally in Germany. 

Claus Vaith and Malte live on La Gomera July 2013

Update autumn '13:

Things are improving bit by bit while some of the crazy interpretations of the law are still hampering progress. On October 5th a Rock Festival in aid of the Valle Luna Festival will take place and generally there is more of varied international live music to be heard again to somewhat counterbalance the frequent and extremely loud all-night barrage of the ever-same salsa-pop music (aka 'the tourist's headache') that seems to be a law onto itself.

Recently rocking  La Gomera: 'So What!' from Tenerife.  Nomen est omen!

...See post with latest updates on Valle Luna Festival 2014

See update: Live music returning to Valle Gran Rey

Further update Nov. 2016: Live music making cautious comeback