The Perro Maldito of Valsequillo: what it is and when to go
Almost every image of Saint Michael the Archangel in the world looks alike: the archangel standing, sword raised, and a defeated dragon beneath his feet.
The one in Valsequillo does not. Beneath his feet there is a dog.
That detail, which almost everyone who walks into the church misses, is the origin of the strangest and most talked about night in the festive calendar of Gran Canaria.
A Saint Michael with a dog at his feet
The image was carved by Luján Pérez in 1804, the same sculptor whose work fills churches all over the archipelago. Instead of the usual dragon, he put a dog beneath the archangel's feet as the representation of evil.
We do not know what led him to that choice. We do know what happened next, and that is the interesting part: the people of the town looked at that figure and built their own story out of it.
If you want the wider picture of how these traditions form across the islands, we cover it in the guide to Canarian fiestas and romerías.
The legend, and why the hour matters
What people told each other was this: on the night of Saint Michael, the devil, in the shape of a dog, breaks free of the chains the archangel holds him with. And out he goes into the street.
In the older versions he does not go alone. He moves through the town with witches and spirits, in a mixture of fear, ritual and a battle between good and evil that has nothing sweet about it.
That is the key to why this happens at midnight rather than at noon. It is not a scheduling decision. The story only works in the dark.
What actually happens at midnight
In the nineteen eighties the town brought it back as a street spectacle. 2026 is the 40th edition.
When the clock strikes twelve, the lights of the whole municipality go out. Then it begins:
A dialogue between a good angel and a bad angel, which comes before the appearance.
Then the Perro Maldito arrives: an enormous red dog with horns, moving through the streets hurling curses.
Around it, live music, towering characters, special effects and acrobatics.
It ends with the victory of Good, which is how it always ends.
It runs a little over forty five minutes and is carried by more than a hundred residents. It takes place in and around the Plaza de San Miguel, and it is free.
The date mistake that can cost you the night
This part is worth reading slowly, because it is easy to get wrong and there is no second chance until next year.
The posters and much of the press announce the Suelta for 28 September. The official programme puts it differently: "Valsequillo, 28 September, 12:00 at night".
Twelve at night on the 28th is, on the clock, 00:00 on the 29th.
Put another way: if you go on the night of Sunday the 27th into Monday the 28th thinking you are in time, you arrive a day early and there is nothing. The night you want is Monday the 28th into Tuesday the 29th, the eve of Saint Michael, whose day is the 29th.
After the Suelta, in those same small hours, there are fireworks around Montaña del Anís at about 01:00 and dancing in the Plaza Tifariti until dawn.
The rest of the fiestas, which run for almost a month
The Suelta is the famous night, but the fiestas of San Miguel run from 11 September to 4 October. Some points from the 2026 programme:
11 September, 19:00: mass and the Solemne Bajada de San Miguel at the church. This is the opening.
11 September, 20:30: the opening address in the Plaza de San Miguel.
14 to 27 September: an exhibition of the Suelta posters since 1990, at the Teatro Cronista Oficial. Forty consecutive years of posters is, in itself, a record of how the fiesta has changed.
27 September, 12:00: island gathering of brass bands, Plaza Tifariti.
29 September: Saint Michael's day, with solemn mass and, in the afternoon, horse racing on the main road.
4 October, 12:30: the civic and religious procession that closes it.
Exact times for each day are in the council's official programme, and it is worth checking during those days because events do get adjusted.
Getting there, and what to plan for
Valsequillo sits inland on Gran Canaria, in the mid altitude belt, and two things there get underestimated.
The first is the road. You climb on mountain roads, narrow and full of bends, and on that night they are busy. The second is that the whole town goes dark for the show. This is not a symbolic dimming of the square, it is the municipality. A torch in your pocket is not excessive, particularly if you parked a long way off.
Plan for the cold too. The mid altitude belt is not the coast, and at midnight in late September you feel it.
For what else is on across the islands during those days there is the agenda, and if you are planning the whole month, the Canaries in September sets out what to expect. The other great Gran Canaria fiesta around this time, a few weeks earlier, is the Virgen del Pino in Teror.
Cover photo: Bengt Nyman, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
