Festivities, Holidays and Traditions in Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria Carnival

The Gran Canaria Carnival is the main festivity of the island and of the whole archipelago together with the one in Tenerife. It is one of the most famous carnivals worldwide and it started 500 years ago. The streets of Las Palmas are full of people dessing up and Drag Queens with their best dresses. The Drag Queen contest is one of the most celebrated and popular events of the Carnival and it was the first place in the world when a contest like this was celebrated. If you have the opportunity to attend to this event you won’t regret it, it is an amazing party.

 

Corpus Christi

In the end of May or beggining of June, the Corpus  Christi is celebrated in the most of municipalities of the island. It is a symbol of the religious devotion, and the streets and squares of the city are decorated with flower carpets and salt which mark the path of the processions. The best place to see it is probably Las Palmas, but the event is very beautiful in other towns as well, almost every city and village becomes a colour festival.

 

Nuestra Señora del Pino

Nuestra Señora del Pino are one of the main celebrations and festivities in Gran Canaria. It is celebrated every 8th of September in honour to the Pine Virgin of Teror. This place gathers together many people coming from all the islands to experience the lowering of the Pine Virgin, and to celebrate the traditional offering to the virgin. It is a religious festivity which has been celebrated during years and years, being very well preserved since its begginings.

 

Easter

Also another typical and classical religious celebration is the Easter week, known in Spanish as “Semana Santa”, and the one celebrated in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the most popular one. This celebration starts during the Palm Sunday with the “Burrita” procession and it continues during the whole week with various parades of various “Hermandades and Cofradías” which are located mainly in the Vegueta neighbourhood next to the Cathedral. The most famous procession is the Retiro one and the Silencio de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad which takes place on the Holy Friday.

 

Rama de Agaete

The Rama de Agaete is one of the most popular festivities in the islands. This celebration were declared as Festivities of National Touristic Interest in 1972. In the 4th of August it was celebrated the “ Bajada de la Rama”, when thousand dancers go up following the music to the highest spot of the village to take the “rama” (branch) and go down dancing until the Sanctuary of la Virgen de las Nieves next to the port. It is a very funny festivity where the “papahuevos” have the leading role, basically people wearing a kind of big heads made of cardboard.