Photos: Sergio Betancort
With the reading of the proclamation by the neighbor Juan Manuel González Fontes, known as "Nito", the festivities in honor of La Candelaria and San Blas in the town of Tías officially began.
At 8:30 p.m. and with the capacity of the Church of Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria packed, the first official act of the festivities began in a very original way. On this occasion, as the town crier, from the ages of seven to twelve, was an altar boy and the parish priest paid him "30 perras a month to keep him happy" with the mission of ringing the bells, he began his proclamation by going up to the choir and starting the corresponding ringing.
Juan Manuel Fontes gave a very emotional proclamation full of anecdotes and experiences. And it is that, from his birth to the present day, "Nito" has lived very close to the Church and has been involved since childhood in many groups, if not all that exist in the town of Tías, as well as outside the municipality.
From the Tías soccer team he made the leap to Torrelavega playing in the youth category. In addition, he practiced the vernacular sport, Canarian wrestling, and was a member of the San Antonio and Gaida folk groups, both from the municipality of Tías. Currently he is a founding member and vice president of the musical group El Pavón and a member of the Rancho de Pascuas de Tías. He participated, also for many years in the Coro de la Candelaria, when the also deceased neighbor, Benigno Díaz Mesa, played the organ.
The town crier also recalled, with much nostalgia, the nativity scenes made by the neighbor Lázaro and the May novenas in honor of Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria. He also recalled an anecdote that occurred when they organized the first popular barbecue for the festivities, which they had planned to do with sardines but, due to the problems of the fishing conflict with Morocco, they had to do it with meat that they had to go to buy in the town of Uga. Later, those attending the barbecue reproached him for only having bacon and told him that the organizers had eaten the meat. Juan Manuel Fontes also said that he loved listening to the stories told by the elders of the town.
"Nito" also collaborated as a volunteer in the Volunteer Fire Department and Civil Protection of Tías. In his student days he did up to the first year of high school and then he told his mother that he did not want to continue, to which his mother replied, if you do not want to study "then go to work", then spending a season wandering from one place to another until he finally decided on machines and trucks, an activity that he carries out to date.
El Pavón's performance closed the proclamation
Juan Manuel González "Nito", a good-natured and folksy man who is well-loved by all who know him, very helpful and a friend to his friends, had his family supporting him on such a special day, in which he ended his proclamation with a "viva" to the Virgen de la Candelaria and San Blas.
Next, the mayor of the municipality, José Francisco Hernández, the Councilor for Festivities, Francisco Javier Aparicio, and the parish priest Agustín Lasso presented him with a ceramic as a souvenir and, as a finishing touch, the members of the musical group El Pavón performed folias, seguidillas and parranderas isas.
