"Bajada" is the shortened version of the ''Fiestas de la Bajada'' which is a
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
which takes place
in several places in the
Canary Islands. ''Bajada'' is
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
for "bringing down", and means the bringing of a
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
's
statue from its normal place in a
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
to be celebrated by the people.
Examples of major bajadas
*In
La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...
(
Santa Cruz de La Palma
Santa Cruz de la Palma (Spanish for ''Holy Cross of La Palma'') is a city and a municipality on the east coast of the island of La Palma in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz de la Palma is the second-large ...
) the ''Fiestas Lustrales de la Bajada de la Virgen de las Nieves'' every five years.
*In
El Hierro
El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...
, the image of the Virgen de los Reyes moved to
Valverde every 4 years.
*In
La Gomera
La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...
(''Fiestas Lustrales de la Bajada de la Virgen de Guadalupe'') every five years, in which a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of La Gomera, is brought from the chapel at Puntallana, near
San Sebastian de la Gomera, on a celebratory tour of the island.
*In
Tenerife
Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...
, the image of the
Virgin of Candelaria
The Virgin of Candelaria or Our Lady of Candle ( es, Virgen de Candelaria or ''Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria''), popularly called ''La Morenita'', celebrates the Virgin Mary on the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands (Spain). The cent ...
(Patron Saint of the Canary Islands) moved to
Santa Cruz de Tenerife and
San Cristóbal de La Laguna
San Cristóbal de La Laguna (commonly known as La Laguna, ) is a city and municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife in the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the Canary Islands, Spain. The city is the third-most populous ci ...
every 7 years alternately.
La visita de la Virgen de Candelaria a Santa Cruz tendrá un carácter pastoral
/ref>
*In Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that ...
the image of the Virgen del Pino moved to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...
when a major event is held.
Other
Apart from these, there are other in the Canaries that are more regional, among which the following are noteworthy: The Bajada de la Virgen del Pino of El Paso
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
on La Palma every three years, and every five years they celebrate several on other islands, such as the Bajada de la Virgen de los Reyes in Valle Gran Rey and the Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Vallehermoso Vallehermoso can mean:
*Vallehermoso, Negros Oriental, a municipality in the Philippines
*Vallehermoso, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a municipality on Canary Island
*Vallehermoso (Madrid), a ward of Chamberi district, Madrid, Spain
*Estadio de Valleherm ...
both in La Gomera, and in Tenerife the Bajada de la Virgen del Socorro
Virgen is a municipality in the district of Lienz in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It includes part of the Virgen valley in the Venediger Group mountain range, and extensive parts of the municipality are in High Tauern National Park. The history o ...
in Güímar
Güímar () is the name of a municipality, town and valley in the eastern part of the Spanish island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, and part of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (province). The municipality extends for 102.9 square kilometers from ...
and that of the Virgen de Abona in Arico.
References
Canarian culture
Tourist attractions in the Canary Islands
Festivals in Spain
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