Winter Holidays in Tenerife: Traditions and Customs

Winter holiday traditions in Tenerife – I would call it a mixture of traditions from Europe, mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. Do you know how Christmas and New Year are celebrated in Tenerife?

Winter holidays in Tenerife: traditions and customs. What are the traditional dishes? Who brings gifts to children? Why is Epiphany so important for children in Tenerife? Find that out here.

Festive Decorations and Fairs

On the island of Tenerife, it is very popular to decorate cities and towns with festive decorations. Residents often decorate their houses as well.

Pay attention to how the traffic circles of the towns are decorated – you will see different decorations in almost all of them. The poinsettia flower is also a traditional decoration. And often palm trees are decorated with LED lights.

Large shopping centers also dress up for the holidays and invite you to free and paid entertainment. Here you can meet Santa Claus, take a ride on the Christmas train, and maybe even take part in a festive concert.

Interesting Solutions

One of the more interesting solutions this year is a 128-square-meter synthetic slide for children installed in a shopping alley in the town of Las Galletas. It is true that at such a temperature the ice would melt immediately – that is why plastic-synthetic rinks are installed in warm regions. Although it is announced that children will be able to skate for free, parents will have to spend 20 euros for shopping – free skating is possible only with shopping vouchers. The rink will be open until December 26.

In shopping centers located in the southern part of SIAM MALL, ROSA CENTER, and X-SUR will host various festive entertainment and Santa Claus will be waiting for your children.

Interesting Solutions in Larger Cities

In the larger cities of the island, festive decorations, Christmas towns, and fairs are even more impressive. In northern cities such as Santa Cruz, La Laguna and Puerto de la Cruz, Christmas programs with music and singing are held.

We recommend visiting the capital – this year, an impressive festive gourmet fair, a gift market and a festive musical program will be held in Santa Cruz until January of 2023.

My family and I go to La Laguna (San Cristóbal de La Laguna, the old capital of the island) to find Christmas spirit. There are not only impressive decorations, many lamps, the streets of the old town decorated with different themes, but also the smell of roasting chestnuts and waffles. And for us, the holidays feel the most here, because La Laguna is said to be the coldest city in Tenerife. Therefore, if you are also going, be sure to dress warmly.

The Towns of Prakertele and Bethlehem

Christmas trees, lamps, other festive decorations are quite traditional and common in all countries. However, in the Canary Islands, including Tenerife, the prakarteles or even the biggest towns of Bethlehem are especially popular.

The scene of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is traditionally installed not only in city squares, but also in shopping centers and even in homes. The nativity scene and the Three Kings are essential attributes.

As I mentioned, many families keep the tradition of meeting at home for Christmas and decorate not only trees at home, but often decorate Christmas trees as well. They are very popular here.

The towns of Bethlehem are usually called “beléns” and occupy a large area of ​​the designated area, and sometimes they will even be routes that you have to walk around the towns to see the whole story.

You and Bethlehem

We highly recommend a visit to the town in Candelaria, which is built into an impressive cliff. I would call Candelaria the “Vatican” of Tenerife, because the town has an impressive Cathedral and religious locals make sure to visit it and attend the city’s festive events.

We recommend that you also visit the Candelaria town during the holiday season. The program can be found on the municipality’s Facebook page.

We found another impressive Bethlehem this year in Santa Cruz on the main shopping street of Castillo. Admission is free, take your time to explore all the elaborate scenes.

And our children’s vacation plans include the goal of visiting an impressive town of Bethlehem from 500,000 Lego pieces. We invite you to definitely visit with your children!

Christmas Eve and Christmas

Christmas is a holiday with family. On Christmas Eve, the evening of December 24th, most Canarians stay at home and quite late you will find many people on the streets for the Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass).

Please note that non-tourist and non-touristy restaurants will close much earlier that evening. Of course in tourist towns restaurants will be waiting for those vacationing on the island and will also offer a festive Christmas dinner.

Christmas and New Year Table and Traditional Dishes

Typical Canarian Christmas meals – from fish and meat to snacks and sweets.

Traditional holiday meals – traditional soups, stews and lamb, beef or poultry baked goods. Canarians are very fond of putting sweet blood sausage, cheeses, boiled potatoes (papas arrugadas), rabbit and other meatballs on the festive table.

Salmon cream (from salmon, potatoes, vegetables and milk) is popular among fish snacks. And of course, without the traditional fish and onions. During the Christmas holidays, cod or “cherne” is usually used, which is prepared with onions and accompanied by fries with red or green mojo sauce.

Traditional Canarian Christmas dessert is called “truchas de batata”, which could not be better translated. These are puff pastry cakes with a sweet potato and almond filling. In appearance, they are very similar to the “cold noses” made by my grandmother in Lithuania and so called in my family, although the filling is quite different – but maybe you should also try Canarian traditional sweet potatoes?

Traditions and Customs

One of the oldest traditions of the Canary Islands is called El Tajaraste del Niño. Traditional dances are performed during the Misa del Gallo – Midnight Mass. At that time, a group of young people dressed in traditional costumes dance in front of the prelude inside the church. All this is accompanied by the music of drums, flutes, tambourines – also known as tajaraste rhythm. Perhaps these traditions would remind us of the mass of our shepherds.

Ranchos de Pascua is a dying tradition where a group of people walk around town singing their songs, often mournful and reminiscent of the dead. Perhaps because of the gruesomeness, this tradition has survived in only a few towns in the Canary Islands, mostly on the island of Lanzarote.

Is it Santa Claus or the Three Kings?

For our children, the biggest oddity of the holidays is that it is not Santa Claus who brings the gifts, but the Three Kings. It turns out that Santa Claus is like a “borrower” from other countries, and the real “bearers” of gifts in the Canaries are the Three Kings. Therefore, nowadays children in the Canaries receive several gifts – both from Santa Claus and from the Three Kings. However, bigger and more expensive gifts are traditionally brought by the Three Kings.

And the children write two letters for gifts – one to Santa Claus asking for some little thing, and one to the Three Kings – already with the entire list of the longest and most expensive gifts.

This year I asked the children why the Three Kings are asked for more gifts, and the answer is quite simple and logical: “Because the three of them have more money.” Now who will deny that traditions have a very practical side?

Feast of the Three Kings

As I mentioned, it is quite a strange sight for us to see the preludes and the Three Kings not only in churches, but also everywhere where there are other festive decorations. And it’s even weirder when the Three Kings visit children in shopping centers and after the first guests, Santa’s residences are replaced by the residences of the Three Kings. Children rush to take pictures with them and, of course, ask for gifts.

The Feast of the Three Kings begins to be celebrated already in the evening of January 5, when the great processions and events of the Three Kings take place.

The Processions

The biggest procession of the Three Kings will return to La Laguna after the restrictions of the pandemic and a long break. The parade will take place on Wednesday, January 4, in Plaza Reina and the surrounding streets. 12:00 p.m. In the Plaza Reina Sofia, there will be a meeting of the Three Wise Men, during which gifts will be distributed to the little ones, and a tourist train will run through the streets of the neighborhood for free. In the afternoon, starting at 4 p.m., there will be a parade through the streets of the La Laguna microdistrict, in which various groups will participate.

In addition to the classic procession of the Three Kings, where children and adults from all corners of the island gather in La Laguna for the largest procession on the island, children from other towns are treated to a parade of decorated and noisy cars. The Three Kings and many other characters travel by car. Such traveling convoys even have street schedules so you know when they will visit your home.

Once Parade is Over

When the Three Kings Parade is over and you are ready to go to bed, it is important to leave your shoes in a visible place so that the Three Kings know where to leave the gifts. They have traveled a very long way, so try to leave some water for the camels and some other gift for the kings – Christmas candy, drink or milk to keep them warm. They have a very long night ahead of them, so try to get to bed early. If you’ve been good all year, gifts are more than guaranteed. But remember, if you don’t behave properly, you’ll only get coal for Christmas.

Traditional Three Kings Cake

Roscón de Reyes (in some Latin American countries rosca de Reyes, rosco de Reyes or King cake) is a bun made of sweet dough, shaped like a bagel, more or less imitating a royal crown, covered with candied fruits that resemble crown jewels, with a small surprise inside, sometimes extremely luxurious. The dough from which the cake is made is flavored with orange blossom water, which gives it its characteristic aroma. The pie is served on Epiphany, January 5, and Epiphany, January 6. You will definitely find it in all supermarkets in Tenerife. It is common for a bean to be hidden inside a roscone, and if you find it, you have to pay for the roscone.

It is believed that the origin of this cake is related to the Roman Saturnalia – these festivals are dedicated to the god Saturn. For these celebrations, round cakes were made with figs, dates and honey, which were shared equally by commoners and slaves. A dried bean was inserted into the sweet, and the lucky person who received it was briefly titled the king of kings.

New Year in Tenerife

As in all of Europe Canarians celebrate at home, with friends, in restaurants, young people go to clubs. We already wrote about it in our blog Where to celebrate Christmas and welcome the New Year in Tenerife.

Fireworks are popular on the island on various occasions throughout the year, but oddly enough, not all municipalities organize fireworks programs for New Year’s Eve. Tourist towns and the municipalities of Adeje and Arona usually take into account the fact that tourists from other countries welcome New Year on the island – that’s why fireworks are set off in tourist towns.

New Years in Other Cities

Other cities both in the south and in the north of the island organize year-end concerts with performers. Those include DJs and of course dancing until the night. There are a lot of Spaniards living on the island, whose roots are from the mainland of Spain. Therefore, the tradition of grapes brought from there is also growing. If you see grapes in stores in boxes, cans, cups or bags of 12 pieces, don’t be surprised, just buy them for the New Year. The twelve grapes represent the twelve months of the year, and each grape eaten with each beat of the last 12 seconds of the old year will bring good luck in the corresponding month.

And we suggest you take advantage of another Canarian tradition, which symbolizes renewal and purity and which is said to bring good luck for the whole year – welcoming the new year by taking a bath. Only when stepping into the water is it necessary to start with the right foot.

Happy holidays to you. If you are celebrating holidays abroad – stay true to your traditions. Also take a look at the customs of the country you are in at the time.

This article is author’s work and was prepared by “Travels with Children ®”. Copying and use without permission is strictly prohibited.

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