Descent of the Virgin de las nieves
The origin of a tradition
The festivities known as the Bajada de la Virgen (Descent of the Virgin) were founded following the visit of Bishop Bartolomé García Jiménez in 1676. His visit coincided with a persistent drought, so the bishop ordered that the Virgin of Las Nieves be invoked to remedy the lack of rainfall. Noting the special and deep-rooted devotion in La Palma to the Virgin of Las Nieves, the bishop ordered that from 1680 onwards the Virgin would be brought down to the Church of El Salvador in the island’s capital every five years.
The festivities began to be held in February, and in the middle of the 19th century they were moved to the second Sunday of Easter, before being held in summer in the last third of the 20th century, at the request of the many emigrants from La Palma who wished to be present at the celebration of the lustral festivities.
Essentially, the festivities have remained as they were instituted in the 17th century, although some of the events that take place have been incorporated over the centuries, and others, which had been discontinued for various reasons, have now been recovered.
Five weeks of Marian events in honour of Our Lady de las Nieves
The lustral festivities begin at the end of June with the lowering of the throne and end on 5 August, the feast of the Virgin. During this time a multitude of Marian events of secular tradition are held, which justify the patrimonial value of Christian culture.
traditional events In honour of the Virgin de las nieves
I.- Romería de la Bajada del trono
This is held on the first Sunday in July, after the pilgrims’ mass at the sanctuary.
It brings together thousands of Palmeros dressed in their traditional costumes, who transport the pieces of the silver throne from the Sanctuary to the parish church of El Salvador, in Santa Cruz de La Palma, where they will be assembled and the image of the Virgin, which will not arrive until two weeks later, will be taken in. A curious feature of this pilgrimage is that it is not the religious image that is transported during this journey, but the 42 pieces of the throne of the Virgin.
II.-Music and dances in honour of the Virgin.
La pandorga
Although it is not a dance, but a parade, the children are the protagonists. It is a nocturnal parade of luminous figures carried by children and whose origin goes back to the oriental traditions brought by the Jesuit missionaries.
Mask dance
It originated in the Eucharistic parades of Corpus Christi until 1780, when King Carlos III issued an order prohibiting its presence in the processions. In 1815, its presence in the lustral festivities was documented. There was a transposition of dancing characters from one religious festival to another.
Chanted children’s dances
The chanted children’s dances have been recovered throughout the successive Bajadas. They have their origin in those celebrated during the feast of Corpus Christi in the 18th century and from 1885 onwards they were included in the programmes of the lustral festivities.
the MINUÉ
Although this minuet dance was not incorporated as a regular number until 1945, it is true that there are antecedents in the ballroom dances performed by the high society of La Palma. Today it is one of the most spectacular numbers, given its spectacular staging (inspired by a Versaillesque aesthetic) and the eighteenth-century costumes worn by the participants.
The lyrics and music of the first minuet were written by D. L. Cobiella, who has dedicated to this number the compositions: Minué, romanza y coro (1945), Festival del siglo XVIII (1955), Minué de losaires en Re (1980) and Minué de Santo Domingo (1990).
The lyrics of the minué allude to the image of the Virgin, the lustral descent and La Palma.
the dance of the dwarves
This is the best known and most hummed dance by all the participants. A catchy polka with a slow rhythm at the beginning that gets faster and faster as the dancers advance.
The staging with characters who come, every five years, from a different cardinal point, but who end up recognising their search for and encounter with the protecting Virgin.
The first documentary references to the Danza de los Enanos date back to 1833, but it was not until 1925 that the staging, as it is known today, was defined.
III.- Allegorical and triumphal chariot.
Since the Bajada of 1685, the pen of the poet from La Palma most representative of dramatic baroque in the Canary Islands, Poggio Monteverde, author of ‘autos y loas for the Corpus Christi festivities, wrote for the Marian festivals autos and loas of exaltation of the exaltation of the Virgin, which are performed four or five times during the night in different parts of the city.
The ‘Carro’ is a piece that varies every five years and is composed by a poet from the island, although the recovery of ancient texts by researchers has meant that some of the pieces from past centuries are performed in the last bajadas.
IV.- Procession of the Descent of the Virgin.
Two weeks after the descent of the throne and at the end of the Semana Grande, the Bajada de la Virgen (Descent of the Virgin) begins. This procession takes place in two stages: In the first it reaches the hermitage of La Encarnación, where it is received by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities and after spending the night in the hermitage, on Sunday morning it descends through the so-called Barranco de las Nieves until it is interrupted by the cannon shots that initiate the dialogue between the castle and the ship, after which the procession continues through the main streets of the town until it reaches the main church of El Salvador, where it is welcomed with the Loa.
V.- Dialogue between the castle and the Ship.
The Virgen de las Nieves has always been very close to the sailors, which is the origin of this act. In the past, the sailors used to build a ship made of masonry on the right bank of the Barranco de las Nieves (a compulsory stop for the procession) where they would fire cannon shots at the Virgin as she passed by.
Later, on the other side of the ravine, a castle was built from which the dialogue begins.
The dialogues between the castle and the ship, as they are known today, began with the texts of the poet Antonio Rodríguez López (1836-1901).
VI.- The Welcoming Worship.
This takes place at the doors of the church of El Salvador and marks one of the high and emotional points of the Marian festivities: the moment when the image of the Virgin will reside for a few weeks in the town’s main church.
The loa is the prelude to the liturgical acts that will take place in the church until 5 August, the feast of the Virgen de las Nieves.
The poets and musicians of La Palma have also composed lyrics and scores for these Marian loas.
Vii.- Ascent of the Virgin to the sanctuary.
After almost a month in the church of El Salvador, the Virgin returns in procession to her sanctuary.
The fiesta closes with mass before the procession leaves the town for the sanctuary. On its arrival at the shrine, the procession takes place around it, and concludes with the solemn celebration of the Eucharist in the Marian shrine.
