Puerto de la Cruz is a town historically representative of ancestral customs and traditions that outline the idiosyncratic profile forged by its own history and foreign interference. Multiple factors intervene such as the embryo of tourism that merges existing traditions with new needs following the flow of foreign visitors attracted by Mount Teide, nature, the climate, the diversity of the landscapes, etc. These original visitors with their testimonies, attracted the attention of chest patients and later leisure and pleasure travellers are what today we call tourism.
But let’s look at an old tradition San Andrés, popularly known as “fiestas del cacharro”.
With November, the tradition of roasted chestnuts arrives every year, an old and endearing custom that brings a warm image around the fishing dock, where the chestnut trees stir and pots shake and moan on stoves heated by volatile blades of fire. The chestnuts emerge from the red-hot embers, with ash-colored skin and the heat and the smell tempt passers-by.
The curious thing about the celebration of the festival of Saint Andrew at least in Puerto de la Cruz, is that, unlike other places in the area where fiestas are dedicated to saints, if my information is correct, there is no image of Saint Andrew in any church in Puerto, which means that it is not a so-called religious festival, but rather a typical and traditional pagan celebration of the town that nowadays is promoted to highlight food.
The truth is that on the eve of San Andrés, November 29, although people of all ages participate, it is children who walk the streets of Puerto following the ancient custom of “running the pot”. This custom essentially consisted of dragging scrap metal, hooked to a string that causes sparks and loud noises. In the past car chassis, refrigerators and other large pieces of metal were dragged around, even in the Plaza del Charco destroying whatever came their way, but today, it is no longer possible on pedestrian streets.
Like the Carnival, these parties at one time were prohibited, but this did not prevent impetuous young people from carrying on the tradition.
Among the hypotheses of the origin of this thunderous custom coinciding with roasted chestnuts and the new seasons’ wine, is the popular belief that it comes from the ancient way of driving away evil spirits, as well as scaring away plagues of African locusts with any metallic instrument: pots, pans, etc.
Another custom linked to the wineries is the sliding boards in Icod de los Vinos. In the past, they took the barrels to the coast to clean with seawater. This led to the use of transport brought from Madeira known as the Corsa which, is made up of two side beams, joined by boards and slightly curved in the front, like skates, to allow sliding over rough ground. They were drawn by oxen. Undoubtedly the origin of today’s sliding of the boards in Icod de los Vinos.
Image from Wikipedia
The red embers of the stoves with their plumes of smoke and the unique aroma of roasted chestnuts, expand every year and die next to the seashore, where they will re-emerge next November. Happy Saint Andrew’s Day everyone.
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