Christmas in Tenerife

Canarian traditions at Christmas (Navidad), New Year (Año Nuevo) and Epiphany (Los Reyes) do differ somewhat from the commercial 'White Christmas' image that is more familiar to most who live in the northern hemisphere.

The Canary Islands, Tenerife in particular, are islands of stark contrasts. Politically Spanish, but only some 70 miles from the north African coast, they have an unique culture, with European influences, plus Arabic and South American customs. Yet people still spray their windows with artificial snow in 70ºF+ temperatures. I still wonder why.

Though often called "The Islands of Eternal Spring, with Mount Teide, a 12,000 foot high volcano rising in the middle of the mere 50 mile-long island of Tenerife, there are also many different microclimates and changes in fauna, which are never more apparent - nor more apt - than at Christmas.

Christmas week is the busiest week for the tourist sector, with hotels and airports registering new record numbers each year as the millions of northern Europeans arrive to spend their holidays on, what for them is their nearest "winter sun playground". Check that weather!

But we're not going with the tourists, anyone can find the beach and the plethora of foreign restaurants serving sweltering turkey dinners. Let's have a look at the local customs and traditions and get some real flavour of the islands at this time of year:

About the author: Pamela Heywood has been resident in Tenerife since 1992. This article first appeared in Tenerife Topics, a monthly newsletter that looks mostly at the other face of Tenerife from that that the tourist usually discovers. Since her Tenerife Topic days, Pamela has launched a comprehensive domain on all things Tenerife - aptly named : Secret Tenerife.

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