Have you ever noticed that there’s something missing from Tenerife’s countryside? Drive along winding lanes backed by eye-catching landscapes and a nagging voice whispers that there’s something incomplete about the scenes of neatly tended terraces and sweeping valleys. It takes a while for the penny to drop; there are no farm animals, nada, not one. No pigs, no sheep, no cows. You might spot the occasional herd of goats but apart from that the hills are devoid of moos, baas and oinks.
With this in mind, it’ll come as somewhat of a surprise to anyone venturing to Buenavista del Norte or San Antonio in La Matanza on Sunday 24th January to discover that a couple of wayward arks seem to have dumped their cargo in the streets of both towns.
This is the biggest day of the year in Tenerife’s animal world. The Fiestas of San Antonio Abad, patron saint of the animal kingdom, involve hundreds of oxen, horses, goats, sheep, donkeys and hunting dogs taking to the streets to party. Okay, maybe “˜to party’ is a bit misleading; they’re there to be haggled over, prodded, bought and sold, but many end up with pretty rosettes and shiny cups, so that’s nice for them.
The atmosphere and format of the celebrations are much the same in both La Matanza and Buenavista del Norte. During San Abad these agricultural strongholds feel like a frontier land where caballeros (horesemen) race noisily through the streets; it’s a notion further fuelled by the sight of horses tied cowboy-style outside bars. For anyone whose experience of Tenerife is limited to sun-kissed beaches, it must be like stepping through a portal into a parallel universe.
Men in scarlet and black waistcoats and felt hats lean lazily on long poles with steel tips, removing chunky cigars from their mouths only to remark on the oxen, goats, donkeys, horses and hunting dogs tethered in the agricultural steel pens in front of them. It’s an aspect of Tenerife which has remained untouched by tourism and visitors to the island are still rare beasts at the San Abad celebrations.
Whilst the sight of traditional livestock is interesting in itself, it’s what’s to be found around the fringe that contributes the more unusual scenes. Terrapins in tupperware, rabbits with bows, ferrets, snake-clad girls and dogs in traditional Canarian costume are so commonplace that they hardly raise an eyebrow amongst seasoned San Abad fiesta-goers. Last year’s most surreal sight at Buenavista was a four-foot iguana squaring up to two Churchillian bulldogs. After that, the man with a green parrot on his shoulder leading a Shetland pony carrying a Yorkshire terrier in a wicker basket seemed almost ordinary.
Like many of the island’s fiestas, San Abad is a delicious assault on the senses. Makeshift restaurants, guachinches, send out aromas with one mission – to grab your nose’s attention and drag you against your will to the source and usually some irresistible spicy pork pinchos (kebabs). Ears are serenaded by flute and drum melodies from El Hierro accompanied by dancers swirling hypnotically in time to the strangely haunting beat. It’s a noisy, bustling and captivating affair which wins out over many of Tenerife’s other fiestas in that, although there is a prize-giving parade at the end of the afternoon, most of the day doesn’t involve standing around waiting for something to happen.
The most enjoyment is derived from simply wandering streets decorated by palm fronds and harvest baskets, soaking up the atmosphere and surreal spectacle of the animal’s fiesta – providing you can avoid being completely distracted by trying to figure out where all these animals are kept hidden during the rest of the year.
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