Beating the sea in Gran Canaria

The holiday is called bajada de la rama. The story is this: once upon a time, a mysterious tribe of Guanches lived on the Canary Islands. Blue-eyed blondes of super-tall height communicated by whistling, raised sheep and did not know how to build boats, so they moved between the islands by swimming. For reference, the shortest way from Gran Canaria to Tenerife is 90 km, and the depth between the islands reaches a kilometer!

They called themselves Guanches, which means "children of the volcano". It is believed that these could be descendants of the Atlanteans, if they once really existed. Their culture, cut off from the rest of civilization, was very interesting. They had writing, but no speech. They built strange pyramids, which can still be seen in Tenerife, and built dwellings in caves. There are still a lot of cave houses in the Canaries, modern and quite expensive. The Guanche girls lived separately and fattened up to 100 kg in order to get married better. Surprisingly, the Canarians still prefer fleshy ladies, although the Spaniards had long ago (by 1360) already destroyed all the Guanches, leaving their skulls in the museum.

Literally only a few of the Guanches were assimilated, according to other sources, none. But the islands keep the memory, and the echoes of the customs of this tribe remained and intertwined with the Catholic traditions of the occupiers. So in the city of Agaete (Las Palmas province) on August 4, the day before the feast of the Virgin Mary, a strange ritual of beating the sea with rods bajada de la rama ("lowering the branch").

According to historians, this is how the Guanches called for rain on their lands. And today it is part of the feast of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary. With music, songs and dances, people walk through the streets of the town to the sea. In their hands they carry long branches, which they then slap on the water with all their might. And the next day there is a procession, the statue of the Virgin Mary is carried from her church to a small parish church for two weeks for worship. Then she returns with the same honor. Here is such an interesting interweaving of customs.