Teguise presented this Friday its 2017 Carnival, which will be held from March 7 to 12 in La Villa and Costa Teguise and from March 24 to 26 in La Graciosa, and which once again is committed to recovering and preserving the history and the oldest traditions of the Carnival of the Canary Islands.
"What defines us, differentiates us, what characterizes us and makes us proud as a people, we want to show it on a unique and wonderful occasion to do so, which is the upcoming celebration of the 600th anniversary of the town of Teguise," said Oswaldo Betancort during the presentation. "For this reason, we have insisted on recovering the old Carnival of Teguise and the Canary Islands as an intangible heritage, and we have done so through a meeting of expressions, which will be one of the most important manifestations of the island during this time," said the mayor.
"I invite you to enjoy this great festival of tradition, in which we put our entity as a people into flight, and also to enjoy the rest of the events. From La Villa, from Costa Teguise, from La Graciosa, drums will sound that will not be of war, but of joy, fun, color and, above all, of maximum illusion, which is what all the carnival groups of Teguise and Lanzarote put into giving us a few days of revelry and masquerades, in which there will also be room for the reminiscence of our ancestors," concluded the mayor.
In the presentation ceremony, the commissioner of the Timple House-Museum, Benito Cabrera, gave a good account of Teguise's objective with the commitment to the Traditional Carnival, "a great parade of all regional manifestations, such as Mataculebras, Empolvados, Cabritos and Diablos de San Nicolás, and among which our Diabletes and also the bulls of Tao-Tiagua could not be missing, being La Villa de Teguise, the small homeland of one of the most relevant expressions of this festival, the host of the exhibition", explained Cabrera.
For her part, the head of Culture and Festivities, Olivia Duque, stressed that these ancient traditions will be taken to all educational centers in the municipality, "because it is important to bring our traditions closer to the youngest, for which we have organized, both in socio-cultural centers and in schools and institutes, different workshops of all these manifestations." "We also wanted to share this year customs and traditions from outside our borders, inviting a group from Galicia, called "Las Pantallas", from the Carnival of Xinzo de Limia in Ourense, a very colorful group that will walk through the streets of Teguise, where we will discover the similarity they have with our customs and traditions," added Duque.
"In Teguise we all know what carnival is, a festival in which young and old take to the streets dressed up to enjoy parties and parades, where everyone can be whoever they want or whatever they want without fear of making a fool of themselves, but also with the utmost respect for the neighbor, for the rest of the people who live this festival with great enthusiasm," considered Olivia Duque, who detailed the extensive program that Teguise presents in this edition, whose allegory is "Cuba: to the sound of Guajira".
A jury of exception for the contests
On the other hand, Olivia Duque, has stressed that Teguise's commitment to offer new proposals for this Carnival, such as the Murgas Contest or the Drag Queen Contest, "has been made with an exceptional jury with the intention that the most authentic and the artistic and musical work that all the groups and participants who will compete in these new editions have developed with great care is valued".
In the case of the murgas, Duque explained, "we will have for the contest José Antonio Elías, Director of the Coral San Ginés, with Ayoze Rodríguez, Director of the Municipal School of Teguise, with Francisco Hernández, Official Chronicler of the Municipality of Teguise, with Francisco Robayna, journalist and presenter, and with Nuvi Tavío, Technician in the specialty of classical singing. And the jury of the Drag Queen contest, will have the judgment of the Sculptor and professor of the Pancho Lasso Art School, Mariola Acosta, the fashion designer and specialist in sustainable fashion, Margarita Esther Pérez, the graduate and professor of Art History at the Pancho Lasso Art School, Pablo Pérez, the journalist and singer Sara Bermúdez, and the seamstress and monitor of the Cultural Plan of Teguise, Carmen Méndez".