The seaside neighborhood of Valterra kicked off its festivities this Friday in honor of its patron saint, the Virgen del Carmen, with the proclamation by the Iris del Mar Choir, which started at 9 p.m. and was preceded by a street parade.
In their proclamation, the members of the group reviewed the history of the choir, which they formed when they were girls and attended catechism to prepare for their first communion, encouraged by the parish priest at the time, Paco Martel. Thus, they formed a choir to sing at Mass with which they continued until their adolescence, returning to resume the activity a few years ago. The members of the Iris del Mar Choir also thanked the current parish priest of Valterra, Nicanor Bermúdez, for his interest and collaboration with the group.
The Carmen festivities will take place in Valterra until July 21, the day the maritime procession will be held, taking the Virgen del Carmen through the waters of Puerto Naos and the bay of Arrecife, which will start at 6 p.m. The land procession will be on Tuesday, July 16, at 7:30 p.m.
This 2019 marks four decades since the construction of the 80-house building for seafarers, which joined the group of 200 houses promoted in the late 1950s of the last century, giving rise to the birth of Valterra as a neighborhood of marine origin. Last year, Valterra commemorated the 40th anniversary of the construction of the church in its neighborhood, dedicated to the invocation of the Virgen del Carmen, a temple that was promoted by the former parish priest of this nucleus of Arrecife, Pedro Armas Rodríguez.