The Cunning Canary

The Fiestas Patronales in honor of San Gregorio Taumaturgo take place in various Canarian towns but the best is in San Gregario which is in Telde in the north (bus number 1 from the South).

Photo By PhotoStream

This is a celebration of all the trees, flowers and plants and a lot of pruning and planting goes on to keep Telde looking its best!

San Gregorio Taumaturgo performed many miracles and is the Patron Saint of Earthquakes and Floods (obviously working then because we haven’t had many of those!)

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The Fiesta de la Naval 2007 takes place on 6 October 2007 and mainly consists of maritime processions to commemorate the Spanish victory over a British invasion in the sixteenth century. There are processions from all the main harbours but the biggest one goes from La Isleta in Las Palmas. There are also fireworks, impressive flower decorations and reenactments.

Photo By FJDP III

The festival is normally on the second Saturday in October (sometimes the first one!) because the original battle against Francis Drake was won on 6 October 1595, so they try to keep near the date (and Saturday is good because everyone can nurse their hangovers on the Sunday!)

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The Fiesta de la Virgen del Rosario 2007 (Festival of Our Lady of the Rosary) takes place between September 21st and October 8th. There are usually all kinds of things to do and see, including plough-pulling, wrestling and stick fighting (a traditional Canarian sport) and battles with flowers. There is also lots of singing and folk dancing and gofio and water is scattered, as an offering to the Virgen del Rosario. Gofio is a type of flour made from roasted corn and other grains. It is used plentifully in Canarian cooking.

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If you are visiting Gran Canaria in September, the International Festival of 3 Continents (Encuentro Teatral Tres Continentes) is a great fiesta. This festival is held in Aguimes and there are performances by European, Latin American and African groups. This is a friendly, cultural festival and lasts for 1 or 2 weeks, depending on the schedule. This year, however, the festival ran from 15th to 24th July (the Canarians like to change dates at the last minute!) – so you will have to wait for the next one in 2008 if you missed it! There have been eighteen of these theatre festivals to date.

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Christmas (Navidad) in Gran Canaria is interesting because it’s very different to being at home! The Canarians eat their traditional dinner on the evening of 24th December and 25th is a bank holiday here. There are plenty of places if you want a traditional British Christmas dinner but it’s best to book in advance because a lot of restaurants get full early on.

If you go to Veneguera on Christmas evening (about 5 euros in a taxi from Mogán) you can see a Nativity play. It’ll be in Español but I’m sure you already know the jist of the story!! There is a procession on 5th January which is fun for the kids (probably because they know they’ll be getting prezzies the next day!)

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