PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
The San Roque festivities officially began this Friday in Tinajo, with the reading of the proclamation by the Rancho de Pascual Archinech cultural group. The 22 members of this group are in charge of maintaining an ancient tradition and, although they only perform during the Christmas season, they are in contact all year round and begin their rehearsals for Christmas in September.
For the act of reading the proclamation, which began at 8:00 p.m., the members of the Rancho de Pascua made their entrance from the hall of the Tinajo Theater through the central aisle to the stage singing a corrido, an emblematic piece to which they added lyrics with reference to the Patron Saint.
Once on stage, two of the members, Urbano and Juan Antonio, were in charge of reading the proclamation. They shared the presidential table with the mayor of the municipality, Jesús Machín, and the Councilor for Festivities, Antonio Morales.
In the reading of the proclamation, they took a tour of the history of the municipality, where the people who have contributed to the progress of Tinajo were very present. The cultural and traditional part of the municipality was also very present, and from the Rancho de Pascua they insisted that it cannot be neglected, because they are part of the municipality and its residents.
There was also no shortage of references to the patron saint, San Roque, a man who came from France with an evangelizing message. In his memory, the men and women of Tinajo have continued to place their faith and every time August 16 arrives, they come together to celebrate his arrival.
After the reading of the proclamation, the mayor and councilor presented a painting with the poster announcing the festivities and the heraldic shield of the municipality, as well as giving each member a replica of the poster.
Immediately afterwards, the official photo of the town criers and the mayor and all the councilors that make up the Tinajo City Council was taken. The act ended with the performance of the timplista Domingo Rodríguez El Colorao, who was accompanied by the guitarist Juan Carlos Pérez and the soloist Alba Pérez. The audience enjoyed their performance and rewarded them with applause.
