A small rock in the Atlantic

Friday, 2 May 2008

Fiesta de la Cruz

Tomorrow is Fiesta de la Cruz -- The Festival of the Cross. Like many Catholic places, La Palma has a great many roadside crosses. Tonight, practically all the ones in Santa Cruz, Breña Baja and Breña Alta will be decorated, most of them gorgeously. Since most of the crosses are hung with jewelry, the people who worked on them sit close all night, usually making a party of it ans setting off lots of fire-crackers. Some groups have been working all year.

The decorations will stay up all day tomorrow (May 3rd), but most of the locals go around admiring crosses late tonight, which is much more atmospheric. If you're on the island and you don't have small kids, get a hire car, quick! The easiest itinerary is to go up to San Isidro on the road and follow the old donkey track down. Yes, it's wide enough for one car, and tonight it'll be one way, downhill, past the crosses. Just follow the crowd. Keen photographers should try to get someone else to drive, and you'll want a high ISO setting if you're shooting at night.

Alternatively, you can see plenty of crosses just by walking around Santa Cruz. Look for places brightly lit up in the middle of the night, surrounded by bunting and green branches closer to the cross itself, and follow your nose.

Either way, take plenty of small change. Each cross has a collection. They aren't trying to make a profit here, just looking to collect enough to buy materials for next year's cross.

These photos are from last year's fiesta. You can see more at:
Fiesta de la Cruz 2007