Photos: Sergio Betancort
The municipality of Tinajo started last Friday with the reading of the proclamation of the festivities in honor of the patron saint San Roque. "Tinajo the Cradle of Bread", this was the title chosen to present the proclamation corresponding to this year as a tribute to the bakers of the municipality. The proclamation was based on the projection of a video where some of the bakers who are currently in charge of their bakeries appeared. Each of them told how their beginnings were. For some, the family bakery was passed down from parents to children, some of them now belonging to the third generation. A job that when it started was totally artisanal, where there was hardly an hour free for rest, since they had to get up before dawn to get the bread baked in time to the stores in the municipality.
David García, presenter of the event, read some texts provided by Francisco Hernández, Official Chronicler of Teguise. Texts full of history about the beginnings of the era of bread and how it came to be installed in Tinajo, as well as who were the first bakers. Some of them had to leave it because it was very hard and the profitability was minimal, others, however, over time have included new machinery that allows them to make the work much more pleasant and production is increasing to supply customers. They also came to the elaboration of traditional pastries in which they use recipes inherited from grandmothers such as, mantecados, mimos, magdalenas or bizcochones. Currently Tinajo has the bakeries of, Los Morros de San roque, Hnos. Pacheco, Tajaste, Pura Alayón etc.
After the screening of the video, Jesús Machín addressed the bakers present to congratulate them for the effort they have been making, making Tinajo a municipality where the artisan and family business is today a reality. As a souvenir for their participation, he gave each of them a replica of the sundial that is located on the front of the church of San Roque. The event ended with the performance of the trio formed by Rayco Hernández on the timple, Adrián Pérez on the guitar and Fabiola Fernández solo voice who performed several songs with Canarian and Latin American overtones.
