34- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
ii.The Canary Islands
Geographically, Spain’s farthest flung autonomous
region is undeniably African.The seven Canary Islands
are volcanic, dusty and anchored in the year-round
trade wind warmth off the coast of southern Morocco.
Culturally, they’re Spanish, albeit tempered by the
northern European influence of millions of
holidaymakers. Spanish explorers began laying claim
to the Canaries in the 15thcentury and then spent the
best part of a hundred years subduing the islands’
existing population, the mysterious light-skinned
Guanche people about whom little is known.Today,
Santa Cruz onTenerife and regional capital Las Palmas
on Gran Canaria give the islands a clutch of old colonial
buildings. Many of the other coastal towns are 20th
century corruptions of once small fishing villages.
Tenerife is the biggest and most varied island, its
landscape of cacti, woodlands and bananas dwarfed by
the starkly beautiful MountTeide, Spain’s highest peak.
The main resorts sit behind black sand beaches in the
south (some lighten the mood with imported Sahara
sand), while the greener, cliff-lined northern coast is
quieter. On Gran Canaria the dunes of Maspalomas and
canyons of the interior offer a natural contrast to the
concreted resorts on the southern coast. Of the other
islands, the scrub-covered Fuerteventura (forested until
the Europeans arrived with their axes) and the less
developed lunar-like Lanzarote attract most visitors.Fish and fishnets:
Canaryfiestas
Canary Islanders follow
the same festival
calendar as the rest of
Spain, although some of
their celebrations have a
distinct local touch. For
instance, the Fiesta de la
Rama in Agaete on the
northern side of Gran
Canaria, in which locals
slap the surface of the
sea with green branches
in a kind of rain dance,
may have Guanche
origins. As in other parts
of Spain, some towns
here take great delight
in burning giant sardine
effigies at the start of
Lent. At Tenerife Carnaval
local men escorting the
fish to its final resting
place dress up as the
‘weeping widows’,
usually sporting mini
skirts and fishnets.
Filmed on Tenerife
The prehistoric weirdness
of Tenerife’s Caldera de
las Cañadas has proved
a popular film set. Raquel
Welch pranced around
in a furry bikini here for
Hammer Film Productions’
One Million Years BC
(1966), while Charlton
Heston liked it so
much duringThe Ten
Commandments(1956)
that he came back for
Planet of the Apes(1968).