María Dolores' proclamation kicks off the Los Remedios festivities in Yaiza

The event was held for the first time in the Plaza de Los Remedios. The image of the Virgin was placed in the portico of the church during the reading

August 31 2024 (13:49 WEST)
Updated in September 2 2024 (13:46 WEST)
Proclamation by María Dolores Rodríguez in Yaiza
Proclamation by María Dolores Rodríguez in Yaiza

Last Friday, with the emotional proclamation of María Dolores Rodríguez González, the festivities in honor of Our Lady of Los Remedios de Yaiza 2024 began. For the first time, the Plaza de Nuestras Señora de Los Remedios de Yaiza was decorated to receive the proclaimer of this year's festivities.

The event was attended by various political figures from the Yaiza City Council as well as islanders such as the mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, the senator for Lanzarote and La Graciosa, Manuel Fajardo, the socialist deputy Loly Corujo, among others.

At 8:00 p.m., the presidential table was formed by the parish priest of Yaiza, Yonathan Almeida; the Councilor for Culture and Festivities, Daniel Medina; the mayor, Óscar Noda; and the proclaimer, María Dolores Rodríguez González. Once the table was formed, the doors of the church were opened to give way to the image of Los Remedios, which was received with a resounding round of applause and cheers, remaining in the portico during the time of the proclamation reading.

María Dolores Rodríguez began her proclamation with a phrase from the writer from Yaiza, Benito Pérez Armas: "A man without history is like a tree without leaves". Then she continued with some of the many experiences and anecdotes told by the proclaimer that we present:

"Without a doubt, the history of Yaiza is articulated around this Plaza de Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios, where the Virgin accompanies us and gives meaning to the festivities. Having her present is having present the people of my family, who were born and lived here. Allow me to refer to family history, to link brushstrokes of memories with proper names that have marked the life of the town and whom we cannot let fall into oblivion. Her grandfather Hipólito came from Uga to woo my grandmother Mina under the tree that shades the door of the church, that ombú that arrived from the Argentine Pampa, land to which my great-grandfather José had also emigrated, the square and the temple were witnesses of that love and backdrop to their wedding, and of some of their descendants, such as my sister Mina, who married Juan, and my son Adrián, who did so with Carmen.

My maternal grandparents, Mima and Hipólito, were born respectively in Yaiza and Uga, and my mother Dolores, in Uga, although later, like many other Lanzarote residents who migrated from the island in search of work, they went to Tenerife. Meanwhile, the work was in Arrecife, and my grandfather went back and forth to Yaiza, but the time came to leave the family home to settle in Arrecife, there my mother met my father, Ladislao, Lalo, a naval mechanic, native of Haría, who together with his parents and sisters had gone down to the "Port", which at that time was in full development due to the fish canning factories. From the marriage of my parents, six children were born, two of them already deceased, I am the oldest and I bear the name of María Dolores as a precious legacy, which closely links me with my mother and my grandmother.

I was born in Arrecife, in La Vega, in my grandparents' house, and according to what they say, it took me as long to open my eyes to the world as it takes for a bottle of anise to be consumed by my grandfather and my father, in their condition as nervous first-timers. A few years later my parents moved to the city of Las Palmas. There I studied high school, and upon finishing, due to an undeniable vocation, I did Teaching and Geography and History. Throughout this time dedicated to the profession of teacher, I learned that teaching is not only transmitting knowledge but above all values, always with respect and love towards the students, feeling when I see them now, men and women, that we contribute something to those who accompany them in the development of their potentials and talents. I have also dedicated some time to politics.

I assumed this task with the same dedication that I have put into my profession. As a girl, I have imprinted in my memory the seventh of July, the feast of San Marcial, with my aunt Cristina who prepared the tortilla and juices to spend the day of the patron saint in Femés. It was the beginning of summer and marked the beginning of the preparations for the house in Yaiza, my grandmother's house, our house, which my parents modernized with the arrival of water and electricity, because the lamp, the oil lamp, the candlesticks and the water hanging from the cistern was for years our daily bread. In the large patio of the house in Yaiza we celebrated my wedding with Jesús Betancort and that of his brother Víctor with Viki Fernández, the first communions of my children Adrián and Alberto, here they learned to walk and in the tahona of the house, where my father spent time doing repairs and arrangements. Thinking of Yaiza is feeling peace and joy, isolating oneself and entering a haven of peace, which is only altered with the arrival of the festivities and the rush to have the houses whitewashed, the town fixed, the square embellished and the streets always clean.

The nights in the cool air, turning off the lights and watching the stars shine. The days of the festival accompanying my cousins I remember that we stayed at Isabelita Parrilla's house and slept some nights on straw mattresses that left you crushed, and she gave us the famous mistela to warm up, because the nights of Yaiza are cool and if not tell my husband, while we were dating, and who together with our friend Joaquín Carballo, came to the festival to the verbenas and until the bus arrived in the morning they would get under the stage, passing a cold that they still remember today. The festivities of Ntra. Sra. de Los Remedios coincides with the beginning of the school year and, with it, getting up early to go to work after a night of verbena, where the sound of the speakers echoes in the windows while you try to sleep... And without wanting to, you open the skylight of the window a little and when you see how many people are still dancing in the square, you sign up to take a couple of dance steps in the bedroom without being able to resist it.

Because as everyone knows, the good verbenas are and always have been those of Yaiza. And the day of the pilgrimage waiting at the door of the house for the arrival of the pilgrims, and with them the greetings, the photos, and the meetings with those we have not seen for a long time. The food, always abundant, to receive the friends who arrive after the Mass and wait for the fireworks. the costumes for the Function, ironed and prepared a good while before the Mass begins, to be able to go calmly and not lose a place, the arrival of my friend Loli Reyes is already a tradition, who comes from Arrecife every year to enjoy the mass and the procession together, just as her aunt Manuela and my mother did some time ago. And before leaving, you have to buy the pineapples and nougat, customs that cannot and should not be lost. How many memories and experiences remain to be told, how many people without naming, who are in my memory and I hope not to forget.

On this day of the beginning of the festival dedicated to Ntra. Sra. de Los Remedios, I wanted to especially remember the women, those who were born and those who arrived and stayed to live in Yaiza. To them, simple, brave, intelligent, extraordinary, who transmitted values, who cared, who protected, who loved and whom we love, who are part of each of our families. Living the festival of Los Remedios is fraternization, it is an invitation to savor moments, feel friendship, encounters, laughter, dance, sing, party... In short, to be a people that shares moments and celebrates its roots. Yaiza, a woman's name, in these days, coexists with its history and with its present. A present where culture and traditions are being recovered and that cannot and should not forget all those who have made it possible.

I believe, like Esteban Rodríguez, official chronicler of Yaiza, and so he wrote in the handwritten dedication of his book "Sembradas a Voleo", which he had the kindness to give us shortly before he died, that "A town without small history is a town lost in forgotten memory".

May his reflection, which I make my own, serve to close these words full of emotion, with a feeling of belonging to Yaiza, where my family and I feel happy. These and many more were the experiences and anecdotes shared by the proclaimer María Dolores Rodríguez González on the night of last Friday in the Plaza de Ntra. Sra. de los Remedios de Yaiza". 

In this way, the festivities began, which have a wide program of activities that will culminate on September 9.

 

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