Each year in a town in Tenerife, an effigy of the Madonna is carried through the streets to the harbour in a ceremony to bless local fishermen. Nikki Smith joins the procession.
Once a year, Maria Diaz puts aside all her other work and devotes herself for several days to dressing an almost life-size wooden Madonna in heavy, embroidered finery, stitching silver jewellery into the folds of her gown, and arranging 600 overpoweringly fragrant lilies at her feet. The Madonna, also known as the Virgin del Carmen, is at the heart of a festival that brings the town of Puerto de la Cruz to fever pitch every July. "The Fiesta del Carmen," confirms Maria, "is the most important festival of the year."
Imagine being at a football match where everyone is supporting the same team, and you will have a sense of the atmosphere in Puerto, on Tenerife's northern coast, during the Fiesta. The air throbs with chanting and the bellowing notes of conch shells, thousands of people flow through the streets and it's impossible not to feel swept along by a powerful sense of collective celebration.
The festival is built around an old ritual: the carrying of the Madonna from the town's church, through the streets and to the harbour. Here she is lifted on to a boat and borne out into the bay, in the hope that she will bless the local fishermen and bring good fortune. With the depletion of ocean stocks, there's very little fishing done in Puerto these days, but the festival remains vital to the town's sense of community. It's a heady mix of the spiritual and the secular. A plentiful supply of beer enhances the intensity of religious feeling, and it's not only prayers that are called out to the Virgin. People also admonish her for bad luck they've received and even accuse her of indiscretions with local male saints. Blasphemous maybe, but it's all accepted as part of the fervour that the festival inspires.
Puerto was one of the very first tourist resorts in Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands, set in the North Atlantic some 200 miles off the north-west coast of Africa, where the blissfully warm climate is perfectly suited to sun-seekers. In the 19th century, delicate Britons would come to Puerto to take the sea air, and the town was popular with holidaymakers right through to the 1950s, at which point other resorts in the south of the island began to expand. It remains a buzzing place, though, a good base from which to explore Tenerife's rocky northern coast. Festivals similar to the Fiesta del Carmen are held all over Europe but this friendly town remains one of the best places to witness the phenomenon.
To carry the Madonna is an honour to which every townsman aspires. There is no order or allocation. At the given moment, hundreds of them simply rush to the effigy in the church and those who get there first, to the sound of a great cheer, will carry this heavy, sombre lady for the rest of the night. That's no mean feat. In order to progress through the crammed streets with some kind of dignity, the dozen or so bearers take on a rhythmic, swaying gait, the heavy wooden platform bearing down on their shoulders. Their faces betray their discomfort. Flushed, sweating, sometimes weeping, they intone songs and chants over and over until they seem to be in a kind of trance. Meanwhile, drummers beat an intoxicating tattoo, spectators reach out to touch the Virgin's gown and dancers twirl madly at the head of the procession.
It's loud, chaotic, crowded and boisterous, but without tension or threat. Everyone moves as one, sings as one and joins in the ringing chants of "Viva la Virgin del Carmen!". Tears stream down the faces of craggy-faced men, while elegantly coiffured Spanish ladies look on indulgently, clucking at each other's perfect grandchildren.
As the dusk gathers, the Madonna makes her slow progress through the streets. Held above the melee, her face white and emotionless, her jewellery swinging crazily, she is eerie and strange. Onlookers throw flower petals over her, which are crushed beneath the procession, releasing a sensual perfume into the warm summer air. As she is carried down to the harbour, people run into the shallows, beating their hands on the water to create a mist of salt spray, while the figure is transferred to a fishing boat. Then, when she has been borne out into the bay, people return to the streets to drink beer, eat pinchitos. (barbecued pork brochettes) and dance.
In Puerto's old customs house, overlooking the harbour, Maria Diaz watches the party unfold. She won't join in the celebrations until later, until after the Madonna has been safely returned to the church. Maria's family has close connections to the celebrations, and one of her uncles carved the current statue. "The Fiesta del Carmen has become more and more important to me over the years," she explains. "I even met my husband during the fiesta - he was carrying the Virgin - and for six years now, I have been the one who prepares her for the festival." Maria is a skilled designer and craftswoman. In her workshop, watched over by another statue of the Madonna, she creates pieces such as a lace jacket for the infant Jesus that is cradled in the Virgin's arms, adorned with hundreds of iridescent fish scales and tiny mother of pearl beads.
"I don't do all the things that a Catholic should, but I do have faith," says Maria, "and the Madonna is important to me." This paradoxical devotion helps to explain the festival's continuing resonance. The Church may not have the profound influence it once did, but its symbols retain their significance, answering a need for spirituality and ritual in daily life. "The Madonna belongs to the people, not to the Church," says Maria. "Her face was modelled on a local girl. Look at her: she's not perfect, she looks like a fisherman's woman, strong and dark. That's why we love her so much."
In the last of the evening light, Maria looks out into the bay as the Virgin returns from her sojourn on the waves. "I am very happy," she says. "Tonight, it went well."
What else to do in Puerto
Enjoy La Sardinada
On the night before the Fiesta del Carmen, there's a feast of fresh sardines, grilled in the streets, which you can enjoy with a glass of local wine, and all for a nominal fee of only €1-2.
Eat great tapas
Try Restaurante Arcon on Calle Blanco (tel 00 34 922 37 19 88), for papas arrugadas: these traditional Tenerifan potatoes, with salty, wrinkled skins, are served with delicious mojos, red and green sauces rich with herbs, garlic and chilli. There's lots of seafood tapas, too - try octopus in red wine or mussels garachico (in saffron sauce).
Drink coffee
The Spanish café cortado has got to be one of the best versions of coffee ever devised. Basically an espresso with a little milk, it's like a short, strong cappuccino and is uniformly delicious, wherever it is served. A Canarian speciality is barraquito, a café cortado laced with cinnamon and sweetened with condensed milk - surprisingly good.
Visit the church
Dark and fragrant with incense, the Iglesia de Nuestra Se�ora de la Pe�a de Francia, has a magnificent carved ceiling. It's home not only to the Virgin del Carmen but to an equally elaborate, gowned Christ figure, the Gran Poder de Dios, and visitors are welcome to take photographs. Curiously, there's also an altar to the Irish patron saint, St Patrick.
See the wildlife
Tenerife has the largest collection of captive parrots in the world, and is the proud host of the International Parrot Conference (to which, incidentally, the UK sends 150 delegates). You can see the colourful birds at Loro Parque ('Penguin Park'), which also boasts a refrigerated, scale replica of Antarctica, complete with penguins. There are also dolphins, chimps, sharks and many more species. Log on to loroparque.com for more details.
The Fiesta del Carmen takes place in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife. This year, it falls between 5-27 July, with the Embarkation of the Madonna held on 15 July. For more information, call the local tourist office on 00 34 922 38 60 00. For further details, including information about hotel accommodation, log on to the website canaries-live.com/UK.