Photo: Sergio Betancort
Since last Friday night, the resident of San Bartolomé, José Hernández González, holds the distinction of Memorialist of Lanzarote 2016. The event took place in the municipal theater with the presence of the mayor of the San Bartolomé city council, Mª Dolores Corujo, councilors of the Corporation, as well as the President of the Board of Official Chroniclers of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Luján Henríquez, and the official chroniclers of Arrecife, Antonio Lorenzo Martín, Gregorio Barreto Viñoly of Haría, and Francisco Hernández Delgado of Teguise.
The event began with the intervention of Antonio Lorenzo, who gave an overview of the research work that he has been contributing to San Bartolomé, Lanzarote, and the Canary Islands for so many years. Lorenzo concluded his speech with an affectionate congratulation.
Next, the Vice President of the Board of Official Chroniclers of the Canary Islands and Official Chronicler of Teguise, Francisco Hernández Delgado, took the floor. He was responsible for reading the Laudatory, a praise to the career carried out by José Hernández in rescuing the history of the town of San Bartolomé. For many years he has been investigating and compiling all the documentation that would contribute as much and as well as possible to make it known not only to the residents but to anyone who was interested in delving much more into the past of the town. The Official Chronicler of Teguise also highlighted the publications carried out by José Hernández, which highlight the history and heritage of the municipality, as well as participation in cultural conferences, round tables, and the dedication to preserving everything related to San Bartolomé.
Thirdly, José Antonio Luján Henríquez, President of the Board of Official Chroniclers of the Canary Islands, took the floor and congratulated the new Memorialist of Lanzarote 2016, José Hernández González. He said that he felt very proud of the constant struggle carried out in a silent way, impacting not only the inhabitants of the municipality of San Bartolomé but also the entire Canary Islands. "And that for this constructive work, the Board of Official Chroniclers of the Canary Islands, meeting in July of last year, had decided to grant said mention unanimously," he said. José Antonio Luján also commented that of the 88 municipalities in the Canary Islands, only 31 have their Official Chronicler, a mention that corresponds to the city councils to grant.
Immediately afterwards, José Hernández González took the stage, who based his presentation on the past and present history of the town. From the departure of the neighbor Juan Leal with his entire family, becoming the founder of the city of San Antonio de Texas, becoming the first mayor of said city, as well as the attachment of his wife to the town where she was born, taking with her as a relic, a stone mill of those that were used to make gofio. José Hernández made an exhaustive and enriching review of the history of the people carried out to be able to get ahead in such difficult times. They were entrepreneurs, some risked creating grocery stores, also known as oil and vinegar stores. Others with mills for gofio, shoe stores, barber shops, etc. The Memorialist also had very present all those women vendors, "who at dawn went down to Arrecife, some on donkeys, others walking with baskets loaded with eggs, chickens, rabbits, radishes or aromatic herbs such as chamomile, pasote or lemon verbena to then sell it in the now disappeared recova".. Cultural events such as theater, music, as well as religious events on the occasion of the festivities of the Patron Saint San Bartolomé, the processions of Holy Week or the Novenas of May could not be missing in his presentation. Without a doubt, it was a presentation with a very rich content in which José Hernández gave a review of everything that the inhabitants of San Bartolomé went through, who never succumbed to the adversities of those difficult times of survival.
Once finished, he was rewarded by the applause of the public, the delivery of the diploma that accredits him as Memorialist of Lanzarote 2016 was carried out by the President of the Board of Official Chroniclers of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Luján Henríquez. He also received a plaque from the mayor of the San Bartolomé city council Mª Dolores Corujo.
The event ended with the musical performance of the toque body of the Guadarfia folk group of San Bartolomé who performed, Mazurka, El Emigrante, Folias and Seguidillas thus reaching the end of a day that will become part of the cultural history of the municipality of San Bartolomé
