Festivals & traditions
Carnivals island by island, from Santa Cruz and Las Palmas to Valverde, pilgrimages and patron saint festivals such as Candelaria and El Pino, Los Finaos, the San Andrés boards and a Canarian Christmas.
Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: five weeks, a seven-kilometre parade and a sardine on Las Canteras beach
The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria carnival isn't one week but five or six: it starts in late January or early February and runs for weeks after Ash Wednesday. At the end, a seven-kilometre parade, a drag gala and a sardine on Las Canteras beach. When it usually is, what not to miss.
Carnival of Icod de los Vinos: a wake on the square, a funeral procession towards the Centinela bridge and a wandering Sunday
In Icod de los Vinos the sardine lies in state on the square in the afternoon, then a funeral procession carries it towards the Centinela bridge, and the day ends with the widows' and widowers' dance. When the carnival usually is, why the big parade moves, and what we know for sure.
Carnival of Los Realejos: Señor Rascayú, the Monday Coso and a day in the carnival capital of the north
Every year in Los Realejos a wooden-bodied figure is made, dressed to match the carnival's theme, and at the end a funeral procession sees him off on his final journey. Señor Rascayú, the Monday Coso and a day when the town is the carnival capital of the north: when it usually is.
Carnival of Puerto de la Cruz: a high-heel race, German friends and a sardine at the harbour
In Puerto de la Cruz, men run in high heels towards the harbour, carnival has been celebrated together with German cities for more than fifty years, and the best days come after Ash Wednesday. When it usually is, what happens each day, and what not to miss.
Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Celia Cruz, two hundred thousand dancers and a Tuesday parade along the seafront
In 1987 more than two hundred thousand people danced with Celia Cruz in the open air in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and it went into the Guinness World Records. When the carnival usually happens, what goes on from the Cabalgata to the Piñata, and what to watch for if you're coming.
Fiestas del Pilar in Guanarteme: what to see and when to go
For almost two weeks, the neighbourhood at the end of Las Canteras lives in its square. There are galas, dances and concerts, but what makes this fiesta different is a set of cardboard figures with enormous heads and one night of fireworks over the beach.
The Perro Maldito of Valsequillo: what it is and when to go
One night a year, Valsequillo switches off the lights of the entire town and lets the devil loose in the streets. That is not brochure language: it is a street show with over a hundred residents in it, and it grows out of one very specific detail on a carving from 1804.
Virgen de la Peña, Fuerteventura's biggest fiesta
Every September the whole of Fuerteventura goes down to a tiny inland village to accompany an image that fits in two hands. The Virgen de la Peña is the island's patron saint, and probably the oldest Marian carving you will see in the Canaries after the one on La Palma.
Virgen de los Dolores, Lanzarote's biggest fiesta
On 15 September the whole of Lanzarote stops. The island heads up to Mancha Blanca, a small village in the municipality of Tinajo, to a shrine built because of a promise made while the ground was splitting open. Here is what is being celebrated, and how to be part of it.