Our Lady's Day from Candelaria
Description:
Even before the Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands, the Guanches found a statue of a beautiful woman on the ocean. She became their shrine. The Spanish conquistadors, breaking the resistance of the Guanches, decided that the shrine of the Guanches was the statue of Our Lady, although black.
In the town of Candelaria for the statue, the Spaniards built a chapel that stood here for many years - until a storm swept it into the sea with the statue. Since pilgrimages had become traditional by then, a replica of the statue was made and a temple built for it. Along the embankment, next to the temple, there are 9 bronze statues of the Guanche chiefs who ruled Tenerife before the Spanish conquest.
Madonna temples from Candelaria are in many cities around the world, for example in Rio de Janeiro.
On this day in the mountains of Peru at an altitude of four thousand meters above sea level begins the religious festival of Mamacha Candelaria. Early in the morning, priests, believers and novices leave the city of Puno. At the head of the procession, the Virgin of Candelaria sits in her wagon, and dancers in bright costumes and horned masks wriggle to the sounds of a flute. At the end of the performance, the artists go to the cemetery to communicate with the souls of deceased relatives, and the next day again dance in honor of the goddess of earth, spirit, water and master of the air.