Virgin del Carmen weekend at Los Abrigos
Bus Routes: To Los Abrigos and fishing villages all over the island.
There have been festivities taking place in fishing communities all over the island this weekend celebrating the 'Virgin del Carmen', patron saint of mariners. In Las Galletas down the coast it was celebrated in conjunction with their annual fiesta whilst here in Los Abrigos the weekend started on Friday evening with a 'Spectacular' including a magic show in the plaza. Over two hours of entertainment for the young and not so young! This was followed by 'Fiesta de la espuma', a foam party and games for the children on Saturday afternoon (no photos, I spent the afternoon in Las Galletas but it turned out that things didn't happen till the evening).
Sunday saw a 'Surprise' concert in the plaza for the adults at 21:00 hours (9pm) till early Monday morning.
The processions for the 'Lady of Carmen' took place today Monday 16th at 14:00 hours (2pm). The statue of the 'Lady' was taken by village fishermen from the church to the harbour where an open air service and communion was held. Announced by rockets; the 'Virgin' boarded a fishing boat along with passengers taking bouquets of flowers to be thrown into the sea. The boat left the harbour and sailed round to the bay at the other end of the village where the flowers were given to the sea before returning to the main harbour. This was an event in daylight but is repeated, as are many of these processions, after dark at 22:00 hours (10pm). Imagine my surprise when I went out to get something to eat before the procession to find that the plaza was a hive of activity and a bouncy castle had been set up for the children. It turned out that we were to have another night of 'fiesta' with a firework display, the procession back to the church and the band performing until 02:00 and I thought that I had missed out on Las Galletas how wrong I was. Incidentally these bands play for hours non-stop, no half hour sessions or breaks.
On a sadder note, as I returned to my apartment I could see the orange glow of the forest fires raging in the mountains above us, thousands of hectares are being destroyed because there has been no rain since before I arrived last November. With a little imagination I could picture the glow of the erupting volcanoes aeons ago.
There have been festivities taking place in fishing communities all over the island this weekend celebrating the 'Virgin del Carmen', patron saint of mariners. In Las Galletas down the coast it was celebrated in conjunction with their annual fiesta whilst here in Los Abrigos the weekend started on Friday evening with a 'Spectacular' including a magic show in the plaza. Over two hours of entertainment for the young and not so young! This was followed by 'Fiesta de la espuma', a foam party and games for the children on Saturday afternoon (no photos, I spent the afternoon in Las Galletas but it turned out that things didn't happen till the evening).
Sunday saw a 'Surprise' concert in the plaza for the adults at 21:00 hours (9pm) till early Monday morning.
The processions for the 'Lady of Carmen' took place today Monday 16th at 14:00 hours (2pm). The statue of the 'Lady' was taken by village fishermen from the church to the harbour where an open air service and communion was held. Announced by rockets; the 'Virgin' boarded a fishing boat along with passengers taking bouquets of flowers to be thrown into the sea. The boat left the harbour and sailed round to the bay at the other end of the village where the flowers were given to the sea before returning to the main harbour. This was an event in daylight but is repeated, as are many of these processions, after dark at 22:00 hours (10pm). Imagine my surprise when I went out to get something to eat before the procession to find that the plaza was a hive of activity and a bouncy castle had been set up for the children. It turned out that we were to have another night of 'fiesta' with a firework display, the procession back to the church and the band performing until 02:00 and I thought that I had missed out on Las Galletas how wrong I was. Incidentally these bands play for hours non-stop, no half hour sessions or breaks.
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