Photos: Sergio Betancort
With the reading of the proclamation by Teresita Perera Brito, the residents of the town of Mozaga began the festivities in honor of Saint Lucia, patron saint of the blind and seamstresses. The event took place on Wednesday afternoon in an auditorium of the Socio-Cultural Center with full capacity. Perera was supported at the presidential table by the president of the center, Marisa Corujo, and the councilor of the Teguise city council, Mari Paz Cabrera.
The proclaimer began to break down her proclamation "A song to Mozaga and its People", and in several moments of her story she was moved by everything she was sharing. All this before the watchful eyes of her family, friends and neighbors. Some experiences in which many of those present were reflected by the ways of life that they had to live in a town that in the years of the proclaimer's childhood and youth was dedicated to agricultural tasks. And as Teresita rightly related, in those years it rained a little more but the family economy was not solvent enough to cope with family expenses and that in those years the families were mostly very large. With much nostalgia, the proclaimer recalled her attendance at the unitary school located in her town and how in her free time she played houses with her friends. With dolls that she herself prepared with a stone that she wrapped in a piece of remnant. The games of the time were also very present, how they managed and thus were able to enjoy free time. In her proclamation, Teresita paid a well-deserved tribute to all those women, who like her mother, got up with the clearings of dawn and did not stop until well into the night. She also related how some of them went to wash clothes in the piles that were installed at the entrance to Caleta de Famara and on the way back home, they hung it on the black stone walls near their houses.
Another of the moments experienced by the proclaimer and that she keeps in her retina was when some women from the town of Soo brought baskets full of sea urchins that they picked up in the Caleta de Caballo area and exchanged them for lentils or chickpeas, which in those times was known as "Barter". Teresita also said that in those years the way to communicate with family and friends who were outside the island was by letter and if it was very urgent they went to the only landline telephone that existed in the town located in the neighbor's store, Socorro. Another of the good customs that the families of the time had is that once the tasks of the field were finished and before retiring to rest, the whole family gathered and in the light of the lantern or candle they prayed the Holy Rosary, a mission that fell on the grandmother or the mother.
The proclaimer also told how on Sunday afternoons, the central road that formed the section between Domingo Lorenzo's house and the Tajaste rock where years later the monument to Fertility also known as El Campesino was installed, became a walking area where some of the boys and girls began their first romances. All this and many more experiences polished the emotional proclamation of Teresita Perera Brito who at the end was presented with a bouquet of flowers and a sculpture as a souvenir for her participation. Then, the municipal folklore school of Mozaga directed by professor Fefo Pérez performed several songs with Canarian roots. The day ended with a popular barbecue where all attendees were invited.