Playa Blanca experienced an emotional afternoon this past Monday on the occasion of the start of the Virgen del Carmen festivities, in homage to the generations of fishermen and their maritime tradition. And it has done so at the hand of Canarian folklore and the written and interpreted story by one of its residents, the young teacher Raquel Rodríguez. This passage has been a journey through southern history with which the town has reaffirmed its identity in a meeting as significant for its people as the revelry around the adoration of the Patron Saint of the Sea.
At the party held in the La Aurora center, where several generations of fishermen and families of fishermen came together, and as Raquel Rodríguez said, in Playa Blanca "it is difficult to find lifelong families that are not or have not been related to the more than sacrificed productive, artisanal, and sustainable activity that is key to the development of the town, on which about thirty families of the town still directly depend," in addition to the added value that "fishing represents for the restaurant and local and island tourism sector."
The children Abián and Igara also participated in the popular expression, narrating passages of the history and cultural heritage of Playa Blanca, as well as songs of the land, with heartfelt lyrics written by anonymous neighbors for this occasion, in the voices of Fabio Martín, Jessica Cedrés, Anita and Cristian Morales, and Aquilino Martín, accompanied by a group of revelers from the municipality and the dance of the couple formed by Ana Martín and Rubén Valiente.
Playa Blanca refreshed its memory through this event organized by the town's Festival Committee with municipal support. The public moved from the patio of La Aurora to one of the building's halls to discover the marine exhibition inaugurated by the distinguished southern fisherman Blas Francisco Martín González, popularly known as 'Pacheco', a sample carefully assembled by neighbors full of photographs, models, fishing gear, and even an old artisanal boat owned by neighbor Dolores Cabrera González.
The tribute story recalled that the writer and researcher Agustín de la Hoz said in the sixties that "Playa Blanca is where its men are all sailors, weathered by wind and drizzle, very honorable and possessors of the most intimate secrets of their sea."
And it is true that it is necessary to transmit this legacy to the younger population, native and foreign, because apart from fishing and bravely facing the sea, which is no small feat, and performing endless jobs on land, such as tying hooks, making nets, and fixing fish, among many others, the men and women of Playa Blanca were taught values, to depend on their own work, and to create community by being a supportive town. The Yaiza City Council, represented at the event by councilors of the municipal government, congratulates the Festival Committee for this noble initiative and the entire town for its well-deserved tribute.
