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Las Breñas hosted last Saturday, June 12, the Baile del candil, a theatrical and festive representation that served to raise the curtain on the festivities in honor of San Luis Gonzaga.
The Baile del candil arises from the traditions of southern Lanzarote. According to the elders of the area, more than half a century ago, a parranda in the center of a hall, the women of marriageable age, accompanied by their mothers on one side and the suitors on the other, made up the stage of the Baile del candil.
When the parranda played the first chords, the most daring looked for the most beautiful to take her out to dance asking permission, again of course, to the mother of the interested party. On some occasions, this step was a prelude to an adventure that ended at the altar. In others, the resounding no of the matriarch ended with the heartbroken in the bar of the canteen drowning his sorrows and humiliation in some liquor. The most astute, however, sought a second and, sometimes, even a third or a fourth opportunity among the young women who were still sitting in their chairs.
In these dances there was no lack of the figure of the "foreigner", the one who arrived from other lands was initially looked at with suspicion and later with acceptance after knowing his noble family origin, his resplendent accounts or his respectable, for numerous, possessions.
All these ingredients make up the Baile del candil, which was celebrated this Saturday in Las Breñas and which was attended by the deputy mayor of the Yaiza City Council, Leonardo Rodríguez, and the councilor for Social Services, Felicidad Cabrera. On this occasion, there were those who played the role of young women of marriageable age, that of mothers with looks to make the bravest of suitors tremble, and also that of those who encouraged and incited young couples to occupy the dance floor.
The party concluded with a verbena that lasted until the early hours of the morning, animated by the parrandas of Los Salineros de la Hoya and Pa´l porrón.
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[See the images of the Baile del candil of Las Breñas->40817]