At 7:00 p.m. last Friday, the reading of the proclamation of the festivities in honor of Our Lady of Las Nieves began on the mountain of Teguise. The honor of giving the proclamation of the festivities this year fell to the neighbor of Teguise José Miguel Duque Hernández. With the capacity of the hermitage full, the parish priest of Teguise, Juan Manuel Molina, was in charge of presenting the proclaimer.
Duque, surrounded by the applause of the public, stood next to the lectern to begin the reading, greeting the parish priest, authorities, family and the general public. These were his first words:
"It is a pleasure for me that I have been given the opportunity to be the proclaimer of this year's festivities, although this was not in my plans. This is the result of the insistence of our parish priest, he has been so insistent in trying to convince me that it was a good idea, something that I saw as unthinkable and crazy, that because of his determination I decided to accept the proposal."
Thus, he continued: "Juan Manuel himself, a person of jovial character and affable gaze, accustomed to frequently seeing my presence in the temple, but without knowing my name, would start a conversation with me when he saw me in the hermitage after mass. Over time, he affectionately nicknamed me The Pilgrim, because every fifteen days I attend mass walking and we cross paths on the way to the hermitage, he in the car and I walking, and forgive me for leaving courtesy aside this time and putting myself first, paradoxically I am always the first to arrive and he is the last to leave.
I remember that as a child, at about six or seven years old, my grandfather Pepe brought me to the mountain for the first time, he was very devoted to Our Lady of Las Nieves and that is how I also met her. I remember leaving with him from La Plazuela in Teguise first thing in the morning, when the sun had not yet risen and he always told me that man always goes to work before the sun rises because that way the road is less heavy.
My grandfather and I set off up the mountain with the only company of the donkey and a group of men from Femés, who had done military service with him. I made the journey sometimes walking and others riding the donkey and we arrived at the hermitage as the day cleared and I was quite surprised to see before me the image of the Virgin so white and the fog that enveloped the mountain despite being a summer day in the middle of August. And that is how it became a tradition for me to go up to see the Virgin every August in the week of her festivities, being a faithful devotee of the Virgin of Las Nieves, my faith in her is so great that I even proposed to get married in her presence, but I could not make my proposal a reality because weddings were not celebrated here and I had to get married in the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Teguise.
During my youth, a new parish priest named Agustín Sánchez arrived in Teguise, thanks to him the "Junior Movement" was promoted, very popular among the young people of the time, something similar to the co-existence that was celebrated during the catechesis period. Agustín gave a lot of help to the young people, with him all the boys and girls who made up the movement held meetings on the mountain where the hermitage is located in which we are now. We usually did it on Sundays, spending the whole day on the mountain where we shared food, impressions of the co-existence of previous years, I remember that the group of Teguise was the largest, nowadays I remember many people with whom I lived in that time and when we meet we remember anecdotes from those times."
Over the years and according to the history in an orientative way and given that the dates vary on the existence of the hermitage it is said that being a shepherd in the mountain in the environment where today is the hermitage and taking his goats to pasture a woman appeared to him with a smooth, pale and delicate face in the middle of the fog and the mist of the environment and asked the shepherd in a sweet voice to gather the rest of the neighbors so that together they could build a sanctuary to house her.
The hermitage of Nuesta Señora de Las Nieves was built in the 15th century and it is said that around the year 1576 the hermitage was burned and destroyed by a pirate attack being abandoned for a long number of years and being rebuilt by the parishioners, also in charge of the restoration of the image.
These and many more experiences and anecdotes were shared by the proclaimer José Miguel with all those who this Friday once again went up the mountain of Teguise to listen to the proclamation together with Nuestra Señora de Las Nieves as the beginning of their festivities.
At the end, the parish priest Juan Manuel Molina presented him with a diploma in the name of the Parish Community, also the mayoress of the Town Hall of Teguise, Olivia Duque, presented him with a sculpture with the image of the Virgin.
Immediately afterwards, the musical part began, with the performance of the brothers Gerardo and Alejandro Machín Betancort. Accompanied by timple and guitar they sang some Canarian couplets to the Virgin, which were very popular and received the applause of the public as a prize. Meanwhile, the act ended with the performance of the Villa de Teguise Polyphonic Choir, directed by Professor Nuvi Tavio, and performing La Golondrina, Nada te Turbe, Como fue, Signore delle Cime and ending with the Ave María of Schubert, the applause of the public closed the act.
