written by @loretosocorro
In Telde there is a time tunnel. The older people who walk there leave happy because of how well everything is recreated and the children's eyes and ears are opened to an unknown world.
This is the "Finaos" project carried out from October 25 to 31 by the Department of Culture and Youth, the School of Folklore and the Association of residents of Roque Azucarero.
We speak with Juan Martel, Councilor for Culture and Youth of Telde, who confirms the wish of all the people involved that these customs related to the day of the dead are not lost: “The goal is not to lose what is ours and for this you have to know. We want to teach, disseminate and be seen, especially by children. There are several scenes and the children pass by, observe, ask…”
For several days, girls and boys, schoolchildren from Telde and other municipalities have passed by, but there is also room for adults. One of the proposals, for the afternoon of the 31st, with almost two thousand tickets already sold out, is to “enjoy” in the hermitage of San Pedro, with stories of the late, yes, but those that are scary.
Mila is a monitor at the Telde School of Folklore, she says that they have chosen the Casa Condal because it is the school's headquarters and because its space allows the project to be carried out. “Give a vision of what was done that day-Mila tells-In this house there are two floors. A partner receives the students, or the adults who came on Thursday, downstairs; They enter and another colleague takes a photo of them which is then adorned with something from the financiers. Then they go through the stalls, accompanied by companion Pepe Rodríguez.”
The different spaces that are recreated are true scenes where you can see, for example: women, dressed in the clothes of our great-grandmothers, preparing flowers in a Canarian patio and with their clothes hanging.
“We are decorating a wreath, making corsages Mila explains. for the financiers and we told them that the chrysanthemum was the most used because it was autumnal and lasting. Children see it well because they already get enough fear with zombies, skeletons from other traditions; so telling them that flowers are for the dead doesn't startle them at all. They are surprised that I told them that my grandmother did not put this flower at home, because it was the flower of the dead, from cemeteries and it was like a superstition that they did not take those flowers home "
Cemeteries are still being filled, at this time, with families with flowers, which are not usually grown or prepared at home but, even if they are purchased bouquets, that is maintained.
The following picture that the visitors to this project have been able to enjoy has to do with the fine food: Come roast chestnuts. “Many do not know how they crack and roast Mila continues. We explain to them and then they go to see how someone is mashing almonds.”
Saro (Rosario Miranda) is a potter and she is roasting chestnuts. “During the time of the dead, seasonal products were offered: chestnuts, walnuts, apples, the little bottle of anise could not be missing…”
Saro and Juan, who is a member of the Roque Azucarero Association, continue toasting in a clay brazier. “It was the oldest Saro comments., later came the brass one, before that, since everything was made with firewood, pottery was what there was and what was used in the houses. Everything was cooked in the brazier”
Saro highlights that older people comment that it should continue, so that the new generations can see what was done in another era. “What we at the Telde School of Folklore also want is for people to know what they used to do in the past, so that we don't lose our identity. In homes and also in schools, more should be told and recreated, not only the “finaos”: the traditional carnival, what was done with the tortillas, the sancochos of Holy Week… living each era. It is good to know other traditions, but without losing our own”
In the Casa Condal, in addition, they have recreated a kitchen where they make pralines. The best thing must be that all the people who visit this tunnel of time are trying all the food of finaos...
You also enter a bedroom set down to the last detail where there is a woman with the trousseau of the time and a cradle with a doll. There they can hear something of the rosary and an arrorró.
From above, girls and boys are invited to look at “the Mystery” and thus see how below are the women of the flowers, now in a cemetery next to a couple of tombs, where they pray and place flowers for their dead.
There is no shortage of soul lights, photos of the deceased and an elderly lady who recounts her experiences with the monitor Pepa, who tells them a scary story, along this walk. But so that everything is not frightening, at the end of the visit, a little song is sung because, according to Mila, "Not everything was sadness in the finals, but there were also dressing tables at the end."
That itself will be a frightening brooch for adults, according to Juan Martel, “In the Placido Fleitas corner, next to the Plaza de San Juan, there will be parrandas: the Municipal School of Folklore, the Taror, the Roque Azucarero, and they will be playing, reliving the fine and surrounded by flower stalls, chestnuts to taste, typical products of the time and in the street different spaces related to the night of the financiers. And when all that is over, there will be even more: a concert in the square with the Banda los 600, Arístides Moreno and the 101 Brass Band, which accompanies him”
Nothing to envy to any theme park from which you have to take a plane and a hotel, but next to us and making known almost forgotten traditions.
For those children who are living in the Canary Islands to continue with the traditions, they have to be taught and nothing better than with spaces full of people who know what they do and who work with so much love and respect. From Sal del Atlántico, we expect more and more tradition at street level, for children and adults.
