FOUNDATIONAL FIESTAS

FOUNDING FESTIVAL / FESTIVAL OF THE CROSS

On 3 May the town's Founding Festival takes place, celebrating the day on which, in 1651, the first district mayor was sworn into office. The day begins with a formal church service, followed by the procession of the Silver Cross (the town's co-patron, along with Our Lady of la Peña de Francia), which is accompanied by bangers and fireworks along its route. In the afternoon it is traditional to visit one of the numerous chapels dedicated to the Holy Cross (there are more than 30 in and around Puerto de la Cruz) in order to admire the floral decorations on display throughout the day. Also of note are the M-shaped shrouds, some of which are extremely old,
made from fine, gold-embroidered cloth, painted, or simply left blank as a symbol of purity.

In municipalities like Puerto de la Cruz, the practice of venerating the cross has acquired an extremely important ethnographic and religious dimension. The ritual has its origins in the individual crosses that were found in each home, and later transferred onto the larger wooden crosses found in chapels, hermitages and at crossroads.

The close relationship between the town and the cross is documented from the earliest days of the conurbation, which over time consolidated its political and administrative separation from the municipality of La Orotava (of which it was a part until the early 19th century).
It is said that the cross which gave its name to the town was the one located on the side of the façade of the Customs House. That cross, along with around 30 others that appeared in various private homes, chapels and hermitages around the town, form a Via Crucis, or Stations of the Cross. On the day of the festival they are festooned with a variety of decorations ranging from a selection of local flora to the artistic originality of the so-called "Green Cross" in Calle Mequinez, which is decorated with extraordinarily realistic flowers made from fish bones and scales.

There are several reasons as to why the crosses were positioned around the town: as mentioned above, some of them were placed in accordance with the Stations of the Cross, symbolising the different parts of Jesus's journey to the Golgotha; others were placed in order to commemorate a violent death or accident; and some were positioned in order to mark a crossroads or the town boundary. Some crosses were also put in place in order to mark specific geographical locations, such as summits or crags.

Fiestas to celebrate the foundation of the city are held on the 3rd of May, with a solemn mass followed by a procession, with La Cruz de Plata (Co-Patron Saint of the town, along with La Virgen de Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia) in the midst of spectacular and deafening fireworks all along the processional route.
Traditionally, the people spend the afternoon visiting the many chapels devoted to Santa Cruz, of which there are more than thirty in Puerto de la Cruz, to admire the floral decorations that will remain on display throughout the year.