Santa Cruz celebrated its 531th anniversary in style with its annual early May festivities.
The Tenerife capital put on an impressive show once again to commemorate the founding of the forerunner of today’s city back in 1494.
On 3 May that year, Castilian troops under Alonso Fernández de Lugo disembarked on the beaches of the present Santa Cruz and established a military camp that would eventually develop into a ton and then city.
From there, they began the conquest of the island of Tenerife to bring it under the rule of the kingdom of Castile. Fernández de Lugo placed a large wooden cross to mark the disembarkation. The date of 3 May (Day of the Cross) is now Santa Cruz’s biggest local holiday and is commemorated with the preparation and placing of dozens of giant floral crosses at strategic locations throughout the island capital. One of the city’s main roads, the Avenida 3 de Mayo leading into the capital from the north, also takes its name from the historic date.
The first weekend in May also saw the annual Baile de Magos event, at which an estimated 15,000 locals dressed up in traditional Tenerife attire to take part in an open-air meal served at over 700 tables and dance in the streets in and around Santa Cruz’s first church, La Concepción.
This year’s celebrations featured the presence for the first time of Tenerife’s newly-installed Bishop, Eloy Santiago, who led the religious ceremony at the Church of the Conception just days after his appointment.
