Whistled Christmas Wishes

 A very HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all and wishing you a healthy and peaceful new year. The above short video was published some years ago by La Gomera's governmental tourism department and conveys festive greetings in the island's unique whistling language called El Silbo (click to find out more...)

La Gomera video from the 1950s

Above video was shot as a b/w 8mm film all around La Gomera island in the 1950s by some Austrian academics and explorers. To watch, just click on 'Watch this video on YouTube', the first three minutes are a bit boring, though. For those familiar with the island this video is a real gem as it shows how different life was then and the infrastructure that's in place now was almost non-existent just one generation back. In most places in La Gomera there wasn't even electricity and the island was called 'The Forgotten Island' or 'The Lost Island'. 

For those interested, a book translated into English by Barbara Clayton called 'Tales from the Lost Island' by author Jose Miguel Trujillo Ascanio is a well-written fascinating book and highly recommended. It's available in some shops in La Gomera (ISBN 84-922526-2-6). 

Sadly the commentary and soundtrack of the above film has been lost, but the images speak for themselves. I do not know who holds the copyright of the film, but it was published recently by the 'Valle Gran Rey...was geht?!' Facebook page.

No public fiesta

For obvious reasons the main fiesta in Valle Gran Rey around Epiphany, which is always celebrated at the chapel above El Guro, will be closed to the public and the popular all-night dancing, etc., has been cancelled. Only the religious part of the fiesta is being held with a select few participants on January 6th and 7th 2021, and can be followed by the public on the town hall's Facebook page. 

Above is an image which I took during the procession around the church in El Guro in 2018, when this spectacle was still being followed by music and general merriment until the early hours of next morning. To find out more about this important fiesta and how it is being celebrated in normal times read 'The Great Fiesta' (click)...

Epiphany fiesta programme 2019

In Spain and some Latin American countries, the 6th of January is called El Día de los Reyes (The Day of the Kings). It marks the day when the Three Kings or Magi, as related in the second chapter of the gospel of Matthew, arrived to worship and bring their gifts to the baby Jesus after following a star in the sky.  In Spanish tradition on January 6th (Epiphany) the kings  Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar (representing Arabia, the Orient, and Africa) arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. Children (and many adults) polish and leave their shoes ready for the Kings' presents before they go to bed on the eve of January 6. The next morning presents will appear under their shoes as the kings  take the role of Santa Claus here. Most towns in Spain arrange colorful parades representing the arrival of the Reyes Magos to town a day or two before, so children can see them on their camels or carriages and hand them letters listing their wishes.  Wine, snacks, fruit and milk are left for the Kings and their camels. In Spain, children typically receive presents on this day, rather than on Christmas day, though this tradition has changed a bit in recent years, and children now receive presents on both days.

In Valle Gran Rey the Kings begin their tour in the mountain village of Las Hayas on Jan. 5th at late afternoon and then continue through all the villages and barrios of the valley to collect the letters addressed to them with their wish list.

V.G.R.'s oldest church is in El Guro and dedicated to Los Reyes. Every year the Fiesta de Los Reyes in honour of them takes place there and this year the proceedings begin on Jan. 6th when the 'Ramo' (an elaborate offering of local agricultural produce) is made in the morning at the cultural centre in La Calera, from where the procession to the chapel of Los Reyes starts at midday with the typical dance steps and chants. After arrival there's a mass in the chapel in El Guro followed by folk music and later dancing to the usual salsa bands and general partying until the early hours of the following day. The usual food and drink stalls will have plenty of stock...

Replica of Columbus' ship in La Gomera

A fine replica of Christopher Columbus' flagship Nao Santa Maria with which he discovered the new world on his epic voyage in 1492 is visiting San Sebastian de La Gomera now. Columbus made a final and longer stop in the same La Gomera port before crossing the Atlantic in 1492. The replica was built by a foundation in southern Spain (Fundacion Nao Victoria) which builds replicas of legendary vessels and boats and then sails them along historic routes. The Santa Maria is now retracing the steps of Columbus and berthed in her final port of call before crossing the Atlantic to Puerto Rico. The 90 ft exact replica 200 ton sailing vessel is open to the public from 2-6 pm now and this weekend including Sunday, November 25th 2018, all day from 10 am to 6 pm. The boarding fee is just 4 Euros per adult or € 10 for a family of four.

The great fiesta is over

After a final few rounds anticlockwise around the idyllically-situated chapel in El Guro (below) in Valle Gran Rey, the statue of Nuestra Señora de Los Reyes (above) is now back home inside her sanctuary, ending a month of processions, festivities and fiestas. The images were taken on Saturday Dec. 6th 2018 which is the most important day of this Bajada, which is celebrated every five years. The prayers were heard and a few light showers ensued, but the ragged-looking bunting shows how windy it was over the past weekend.

New crown, new year

As part of the VII Bajada Fiestas, the statue of Nuestra Señora de Los Reyes receiced a new golden crown during the open air mass before the folklore festival at the bus station yesterday. A first for me: 'Attending' mass while drinking beer at the bar, from where I took these images.

By the way, the main New Year's Eve fiesta of Valle Gran Rey takes place in La Playa this year. There are fiestas to count in the new year in the main towns of all the municipal areas of La Gomera with the usual salsa bands and open air dancing tonight, but there will be lots of other parties, too...

Yesterday's open air mass

Folk Fiesta

This Saturday, 30th Dec. 2017, there will be a day of Canary Islands folk music held in honour of Nuestra Señora de Los Reyes with four participating folklore groups from Tenerife, Lanzarote, and La Gomera and is part of the VII Bajada fiesta. The event is free of charge and will start around midday behind the bus station near the bridge in La Calera, Valle Gran Rey.

...and she's going down again

The great fiesta continues and so do the processions. Just a short while ago Nuestra Sñora de Los Reyes passed over the bridge in Valle Gran Rey to spend a while in the lower parts of the valley east of it, continuing her BAJADA of 2017/18 program (click for more). Apologies for the poor quality mobile phone images.

Bang, bang, here she comes

After having been processed through all the mountain villages of Valle Gran Rey, Nuestra Señora de Los Reyes arrived back in the lower Valley last night where she will have a well deserved rest in the little chapel in El Chorro (La Calera)  before continuing down to the next large fiesta in La Playa. All is part of the bajada, the great fiesta which goes on until Jan. 8th 2018. As usual, there was a feast spread out for all those attending the event and exploding rockets illuminated the night sky, welcoming her with with loud bangs amplified by the surrounding cliffs. Sorry about the shaky image, but more rockets were exploding close behind me...

Colourful pageant tonight plus concert and dancing

Tonight a spectacular pageant will be staged at 8 pm in the harbour of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey re-enacting of the arrival of the medieval painting above many years ago.

According to local lore a foreign merchant brig or a pirate sailing ship (depending on the narrator) anchored in the the natural harbour of Valle Gran Rey and the sailors rowed ashore urgently looking for provisions and water, sometime in the middle of the last millennium. The area was very sparsely populated in those days, and the the locals were very poor but they made the sailors welcome and brought goats cheese, honey, water and more to provision the ship. They were promised the religious painting  above in return for the goods and a feast to celebrate the deal was held on the beach.

When the locals were asleep the sailors re-took the painting and tried to steal away, but the previously calm weather suddenly changed to continuously stormy weather that made it impossible for their ship to leave the bay. They eventually repented and  returned the painting to the locals, praying to be forgiven. Miraculously the weather immediately calmed again and they could continue their journey. 

The much venerated image has since been housed in the oldest church in Valle Gran Rey up in El Guro, and the valuable medieval painting is the focal point of the 'VII Bajada' fiesta which officially starts tomorrow (see: The Great Fiesta begins).

The pageant will be directly followed by a concert on the pier entitled 'Cabañuelas en La Gomera' featuring Pedro Manuel Afonso from Gran Canaria. After that there'll be salsa bands and dancing 'til late...well, early morning more likely.

The great fiesta begins

...here in Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera with a special fiesta of our patron saint 'Nuestra Señora de Los Reyes' in earnest this weekend and will continue until the 7th of January 2018 ! 'Los Reyes' (Epiphany) is also the celebration of Christmas in the Canaries and X-mas presents are given on that day, Jan. 6th. 

This year It is the 'bajada' which is celebrated only every 5 years and means that the image and the statue of the saint is going to be taken from the church in El Guro to be processed through every hamlet and part of the parish and staying temporarily in many different churches and chapels. Some associated events like a torch run have already taken place in preparation for the month-long event.

The processions are noisy affairs with loud firecrackers being shot into the air along the route. A traditional dance is being performed by many worshippers during the processions, accompanied by 'chacaras y tambores', the former being a locally made very large type of castanets, of which there is a 'male' and a 'female', the 'female' having a slightly higher pitch. The 'tambores' are homemade goatskin drums with a muted snare sound.The percussion beats a steady, restrained rhythm that could put you almost into a trance.To all this the participants chant a repetitive song that has a distinctly North African feel and probably originates in pre-Christian times. So the processions go from place to place, stopping here and there for prayers, followed by shouts of 'VIVA...'

Ahead of the processions, and even ahead of the statue of the saint, the 'ramo' is being carried which is an artfully bound bouquet of fruit and vegetables of considerable weight, and even the fabrication of this offering is celebrated with music, food and drink by the volunteers and onlookers. 

Culture aside, the fiesta is a perfect occasion for just having a good time. The secular parts of the proceedings usually begin after mass and mostly start with Canarian folk music followed on stage by salsa and merengue bands  who play for the dancers and revellers until the early hours of the morning through professional (and loud) sound equipment, often even until the sun has risen. Stalls serve food and drink throughout the proceedings and young and old are having a party.

The main programme for the 'bajada' 2017/18 can be found here: VII Bajada

The unique whistled language of La Gomera

Above UNESCO video is still one of the best introductions to El Silbo, La Gomera's unique whistled language. It was released by the organisation when El Silbo became recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009. Click El Silbo to find out more...

Learn La Gomera's El Silbo for free

BUSUU.COM is offering free online courses to learn the whistled language unique to La Gomera and become silbador . Here's their Cannes-award winning promotional video:

Last year's fire leads to archeological finds

The devastating fires in the summer of 2012 that left some of the ancient forest destroyed has now led to the discovery of many new sites of archeological importance. The dense greenery had previously kept these sites with remnants of structures erected by the original settlers of La Gomera hidden from the scientists. Aboriginal tools and implements were also included in the 50 discoveries. It's  an ill wind...

One of the sites discovered on La Gomera © Diario de Avisos

El Silbo - La Gomera's Unique Language

'El Silbo', also known as 'Silbo Gomero', is the ancient and still practised unique other language of La Gomera. The name is derived from the Spanish word for whistling, 'silbar', and it is a language in its own right and not simply a whistled form of Spanish. You can even whistle in almost any other spoken language using El Silbo. It probably evolved to enable communication across the island's ravine-ridden terrain during the approx. 1500 years the original  inhabitants had the island to themselves. El Silbo is not practised on any of the other Canary Islands and somewhat similar whistled communication in the rest of the world is nowhere near as refined, or long forgotten if it ever existed.

El Silbo being whistled  © informacioncanarias.com

El Silbo consists of vowels and consonants that are whistled involving a technique that uses the fingers of one hand and the tongue to produce different whistling sounds. The intonation is controlled by the tongue, and the cup of the free hand is used to modulate the sound. The resulting communication is that loud that it can travel for a couple of miles across the mountainous terrain, but it sounds amazingly pleasant to the ear even if you stand close to the whistler. Messages and gossip can thus be passed rapidly from valley to valley and right across the island, saving strenuous walks - and there's never a flat battery or a gap in reception to worry about. Mobile phones and modern roads did however lead to a decline in the use of El Silbo and a few years ago the whistling language was made a compulsory subject in the schools of La Gomera to save it from extinction. The move has proven quite popular and even the homework is done without complaint. 

Here's a link to a recent article on El Silbo in the 'BBC News Magazine', complete with video and sound samples:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20953138

and here's a short documentary with English subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJleFNqQ32M

Pageant last night

Last night a pageant in the harbour of Valle Gran Rey re-enacted the arrival of this painting many years ago:

According to local lore a Portuguese merchant brig or a pirate sailing ship (depending on the narrator) anchored in the the natural harbour of Valle Gran Rey and the sailors rowed ashore looking for provisions and water, sometime in the middle of the last millenium.The area was very sparsely populated in those days, and the the locals were very poor but they made the sailors welcome and brought goats cheese, honey, water and more to provision the ship. They were promised the religious painting  above in return for the goods and a feast to celebrate the deal was held on the beach. When the locals were asleep the sailors re-took the painting and tried to steal away, but the previously calm weather suddenly changed to a storm that made it impossible for them to leave the bay. They repented and  returned the painting to the locals. Miraculously the weather immediately calmed again and they could continue their journey. The much venerated painting has since been housed in the oldest church in Valle Gran Rey which is the focal point of the annual fiesta of Epiphany (see:The Great Fiesta).
Here some images of last night's reenactment:

Video: La Gomera, the hidden island

A new video promoting interest in La Gomera's Spanish history and the visits by Columbus has been released by local government:

La Gomera Oculta. The Hidden Island from DINa3 Dinamización y gestión on Vimeo.

The Great Fiesta

The religious fiestas in the Canaries are too numerous to mention, and peak during the summer months.
Here in Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera it is no different, but a special fiesta of our local saint 'Nuestra Señora de Los Reyes' is starting today and will continue until the 7th of January 2013 ! 'Los Reyes' (Epiphany) also is the celebration of Christmas in the Canaries and X-mas  presents are given on that day, Jan. 6th. 
This year It is the 'bajada' which is celebrated only every 5 years and means that the statue of the saint is going to be taken from the church to be processed through every hamlet and part of the parish and staying temporarily in many different locations. The processions are noisy affairs with loud firecrackers being shot into the air along the way. A traditional dance is being performed by many worshippers during the processions, accompanied by 'chacarras y tambores', the former being a locally made very large type of castanets, of which there is a 'male' and a 'female', the 'female' having a slightly higher pitch. 

Procession passing Las Orijamas,Valle Gran Rey, 2008

The 'tambores' are homemade goatskin drums with a muted snare sound.The percussion beats a steady, restrained rhythm that could put you almost into a trance.To all this the participants chant a repetitive song that has a distinctly North African feel and probably originates in pre-Christian times. So the processions go from place to place, stopping here and there for prayers, followed by shouts of 'VIVA...'

The 'ramo'

 Ahead of the processions, and even ahead of the statue of the saint, the 'ramo' is being carried which is an artfully bound bouquet of fruit and vegetables of considerable weight,and even the fabrication of this offering is celebrated with music, food and drink by the volunteers and onlookers. 

'Chacarras y tambores'

Culture aside, the fiesta is a perfect occasion for just having a good time. The secular parts of the proceedings usually begin after mass and mostly start with Canarian folk music followed on stage by salsa and merengue bands  who play for the dancers and revellers until the early hours of the morning through professional (and loud) sound equipment, often even until the sun has risen. Stalls serve food and drink throughout the proceedings and young and old are having a party.
The main program for the 'bajada' 2012/13 can be found on this page (look for 'descargar programa'): http://www.vallegranrey.es/es/component/eventlist/details/480-vi-bajada-de-la-virgen-de-los-reyes.html

Bangers going off in the valley

Church 'Ermita de los Reyes'

Idyllic setting, but mind your step coming
 down the steep path after a night's  dr...ancing.

Worship

Note: All photos in this post
        were taken during the
      last 'bajada' in 2007/8

Rebellion on La Gomera

Tomorrow, 21st of November, is the 524th anniversary of the the last great rebellion of the original inhabitants of La Gomera, the Guanches, against the Castilian conquerors of the island and their governor Hernan Peraza the Younger in 1488. Perazas grandfather, Hernan the Elder, had previously sealed a pact of peace with with the original inhabitants and their chieftains in a ceremony of brotherhood that involved the drinking of milk from a traditional earthenware pot. This pact set down rules and laws for both parties and later was repeatedly broken by Hernan the Younger, who despite having ratified the agreement began treating the population with great brutality and selling many as slaves abroad. The local chieftains subsequently held court and condemned Peraza to die, and to symbolise the end of the pact the earthenware pot was broken. His assassination by a local warrior, Hautacuperche, took place as he was caught in the act of breaking the pact yet again, and this was the start of a full-scale uprising of the local population who besieged the stronghold of the ruling Spaniards, the 'Torre del Conde' (which still stands in San Sebastian de La Gomera and is open to the public) and Peraza's wife, Beatriz de Bobadilla (who is said to have had an affair with Christopher Columbus later), had great difficulties in defending it. She called for reinforcements from the governor of Gran Canaria, who sent 400 veteran solders to La Gomera. The rebellion was put down with awesome brutality and in the end local males over the age of 15 were cruelly executed and the remaining youngsters were sold into slavery. Part of this barbarity was blamed on the vindictiveness of Peraza's widowed wife, whose excessive brutality even came to the attention of the rulers of Spain, and a committee of enquiry was established that held lengthy deliberations centred on the question whether Guanches had souls. Finally the governor of Gran Canaria as well as Beatriz de Bobadilla were admonished and most of the enslaved Gomeros were released - in Spain - from where they had to find their own way home without any means, to arrive on their now totally subdued native island.

Last Saturday a commemoration ceremony was held at a place called today 'Degollada de Peraza' (Execution of Peraza), and as a symbolic act an earthenware pot was broken again.

Monument in Valle Gran Rey: Hautacuperche holding the
 broken bowl and carrying the weapon to kill  Hernan Peraza

To see a video of a re-enactment of the historic events click here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NgdxP9Z0RQ