It was the great day of the Fiestas de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores and this year, for the first time, a holiday. Yesterday the Virgin was accompanied by thousands of faithful who came from all over the Island to pay homage to their patron saint.
Among the crowd could be seen a large number of political authorities from Lanzarote: the president of the Cabildo, Inés Rojas, and the mayor of the municipality, Jesús Machín, as well as several councilors, councilmen and other public officials were present.
At 7:00 p.m. the Solemn Religious Function took place, presided over by the Diocesan Bishop Ramón Echaren Ystúriz, accompanied by the insular Clergy. Then began the procession with the beautiful image of the Dolorosa who was also accompanied by the Municipal Band of Tinajo.
This year the emotional staging of the miracle of the Virgin has been postponed until Sunday, September 18, the last day of the Fiestas. This representation tries to reconstruct and evoke the legend surrounding the weeping Virgin.
The Virgin of the Volcanoes
"... When the river of lava reached the foot of the cross, it stopped, ceasing to bury new lands and diverting towards the petrified slag of previous eruptions".
The president of the Cabildo, Inés Rojas, already recalled in the presentation of the Los Dolores 2005 program the religious essence of these festivities. "What moves us to go to Dolores and make this festive program is the Virgin, we ask her to help us all enjoy and continue to help us so that this mantle also covers the volcanoes that plague us in society," she said.
She recalled that "we must all keep in mind that, for everything to go well, many people have had to work and will have to work for a long time," she said. And she encouraged the people of Lanzarote to go well prepared on the day of the Pilgrimage: "Welcome to the Fiestas de Dolores, let's be authentic, let's dress as pilgrims," she concluded.
The legend was born after the last and violent eruption of the volcanoes of the Island. In 1736, the date of the volcanic eruptions, a Franciscan, Father Guardián, summoned and calmed the people to organize a rogation carrying the image of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, and go to meet the lava flows.
The fervent procession was placed on the Montaña de Guiguán and there they solemnly promised to build a hermitage to the Lady if she managed to contain the desolation that was being consummated. A determined and brave individual, embraced to a tea cross, advanced as much as he could to the seething magma and nailed the cross while those present wept and begged with titanic faith.
When the river of lava reached the foot of the cross, it stopped, ceasing to bury new lands and diverting towards the petrified slag of previous eruptions.
