The reading of an emotional proclamation in a packed Church of San Ginés by the Los Campesinos Folk Group kicked off the San Ginés festivities on the night of Friday, August 12, for which the Arrecife City Council, presided over by Astrid Pérez, has prepared a complete and attractive program of events, through the Department of Festivities led by Encarna Páez, in collaboration with other areas of the Corporation.
These festivities, although they have always been the patron saint festivities of Arrecife, have belonged to the entire Lanzarote, as proclaimed by Miguel Ángel Corujo - director of the Folk Group - David García and Rosario Arroyo: “In Los Sangineles, we farmers have always come to the Port. The festival belongs to the entire island, it is our biggest festival, that of the capital, of which we are all - in some way - children.” A proclamation that evoked the Lanzarote countryside - no longer so thirsty, but demanding exchange: “you take care of me, I feed you” - and the “seafaring sense” of its capital, “the Port of Arrecife.”
“Arrecife dresses up for the festival”
Previously, the mayor of Arrecife, Astrid Pérez, highlighted in her speech that “with generosity, and proud of what it was and what it is, Arrecife dresses up for the festival and gives us the opportunity to remember moments of yesteryear and also open ourselves to the celebrations that the new times and the new generations have brought us”, because - as she emphasized - “past and present come together once again in our Sangineles.”
The mayor of the capital of Lanzarote considered it “a reason for pride for the people of Arrecife” to have Los Campesinos as the heralds of “our big festival”, “a group that throughout its trajectory has remained a reference of the values and essence of the Lanzarote farmer”; and even more so - she continued - “a few meters from the place where farmers from all over the island used to come to sell their products, the fruit of an arid but grateful land.”
Thus Astrid Pérez alluded to La Recova, “that great supply market for practically a century; that agricultural essence, of men and women punished by the sun and wind, is also part of Los Campesinos, of the very being of Lanzarote that is present through its folias, isas, malagueñas, seguidillas and sorondongos; of its music and its dance”, she added.
For her part, the Councilor for Festivities, Encarna Páez, encouraged “the residents of Arrecife to participate, to enjoy, to reconnect with the essence of a festival that this year tastes like freedom”, which “recover traditions that we thought were forgotten, but above all, the possibility is recovered - after the period of the pandemic - to live and feel - with closer family and friends - events that invite us to occupy the street”, and which range from concerts to the folklore of the port, passing through children's activities, film sessions or religious and sports events, as she listed.