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  Home > The island > Culture
 
Culture
 

The Island's traditions are still alive nowadays.
 


Shepherd with astia and dog In La Gomera, there are spots envelopped in an aura of mystery, as occurs in La Laguna Grande. Popular legends and traditions have an important territorial component, as for gomeran whistling and astia, or the legend of Gara and Jonay, key to the name of the highest point of the island.

Blazes of San Marco in AguloThere are many religious celebrations with processions in almost all the hermitage spreaded over the mountains, and they are opportunities for everyone to enjoy music, dance, and food. They happened either in the villages' centers, as in Agulo San Marco's bonfires, or in a valley's main church, such as San Isidro in La Palmita, or right in the middle of the mountain, as in the Cedro's forest , the procession for Nuestra Senora de Lurdes.

Drums and chakarasIn all of them, you will hear the traditional island's music : choirs, tambores y chákaras (drums and castanets), while the people, young and old as well, follow the statue of the saint dancing the drum's dance.
These traditions, which were slowly disapearing, have taken a new rise over the last few years, and you can find regular courses of silbo, as well as traditional dance and music, in many villages.


Harvesting the palmtree sap The handicrafts, rooted in Guanches' traditions, make the best use of the natural products of the island. They range from gastronomy with palm honey (made with its sap), almogrote (goat cheese paté with garlic and hot red peppers), torta de cuajada (fresh cheese, eggs, sugar and aniseeds), wine (white or red), and much more...

Fabrication of the pottery To useful or decorative objects, as traditional pottery (El Cercado and Chipude) made using the ancient wheel-less Guanche technic.Potteries in El Cercado
The vegetals are used in the making of utilitarian objects as baskets, bags, hats, while wood is turned into traditional music instruments as chákaras and morteras.

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