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.

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.

Party on the pier

As part of the great fiesta there'll be a 'youth fiesta' in the harbour of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey tomorrow, Dec. 29th 2017, starting from 9 pm. Well-known rock band 'Ni 1 Pelo de Tonto' from Tenerife will perform first, followed by two DJs. The event is free of charge and worth a visit, and despite the title and the funny poster all ages are welcome.

...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...

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