Residents of Tejina, a town in Tenerife, celebrated the annual Día de los Corazones on Sunday, a vibrant festival that sees local neighbourhoods compete by creating large displays made of fruits and traditional crafts. Each display measures around twelve metres long and weighs more than 100 kilograms.
The festival pays tribute to San Bartolomé and drew hundreds of attendees, filling the church square with the green, yellow, and orange of T-shirts worn by participants from the area’s three districts: Pico, Calle Arriba, and Calle Abajo.
From early morning, people gathered in their respective neighbourhoods, admiring intricately crafted bread shaped like animals and various rural scenes. Musicians also began tuning their instruments to prepare for the festivities.
The event kicked off with fireworks, marking the start of a procession where groups of twenty to thirty locals carried the heart displays to the village square, coordinating their movements to the rhythm of music.
Once at the church, the displays were placed on the ground as attendees listened to a speech from the parish priest, amid the presence of local dignitaries, including Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo and La Laguna mayor Luis Yeray Gutiérrez. The crowd sang praises for their local teams and the festival’s patron saint.
After receiving the saint’s blessing, participants carried the hearts to posts outside the church where they will remain until Monday, showcasing months of hard work by local community groups.
The festivities will conclude on Monday afternoon with the “Descuelgue de los Corazones,” where the structures will be gradually dismantled and their fruit, vegetables, and bread will be tossed into the crowd, creating a lively free-for-all as people scramble to collect mementoes of this culturally significant event.
