Title: Night Of Carols
Location: Santiago Del Teide Cultural Centre
Description: A rousing night of christmas music. Starts at 8pm.
Start Time: 20.00
Date: 2011-12-16

Title: Night Of Carols
Location: Los Gigantes Church Plaza
Description: Join in with the Santiago del Teide School of Folklore. Starts at 7pm.
Start Time: 19.00
Date: 2011-12-15

Forget the fact that Tenerife is a subtropical island off the coast of Africa. Forget the fact that the sun is shining, there are palm trees and you’re wearing T-shirt and shorts. There’s plenty of festive fun to be had during Christmas on Tenerife.

If you happen to be on holiday on Tenerife you can escape the frantic Christmas crowds at home but still enjoy a magical Christmas atmosphere. Here are our top 10 things to do at Christmas on Tenerife.

Pig out on Turrón
This scrumptious cake borne from a grand romantic gesture is only found on supermarket shelves on Tenerife at Christmas (well…until stocks run out). It is sinfully good especially when paired with a cup of coffee. There are oodles of different varieties to choose from, but the original almond, sugar, honey and egg yema tostada is still the best.

Slip on some Sexy Red Underwear
Apparently it’s good luck to see in the New Year wearing red underwear (it doesn’t say anywhere it has to be sexy, but ‘slip on some plain red underwear’ just doesn’t sound the same). Two conditions for guaranteeing good luck for the coming year is that the red underwear has to be new and also that it’s a present. Who knows how many people follow this tradition; it’s a difficult one to research – ‘excuse me, what colour is your underwear?’ is more likely to result in a slap than an answer.

Enjoy a Sparkling Christmas
The Christmas street decorations in some of Tenerife’s towns make a visit after dark an enchanting experience. Some of the resorts put on decent displays but to walk the cobbled historic streets in la Laguna and La Orotava after dark evokes warm and fuzzy memories of childhood Christmases.

Singalong-a-Christmas
There’s usually a popular musical at the Tenerife Auditorium Adán Martín and this year it’s The Sound of Music. Actually it’s the Spanish version Sonrisas y Lagrimas, so the music might sound familiar but the words might not; somehow ‘Doh a cierva’ just wouldn’t seem right. Possibly a better option is the free open air Christmas Day classical concert in Santa Cruz.

Eat Early on Christmas Eve
This applies more if you’re in a traditional town on Tenerife where every Canarian restaurant shuts early on Christmas Eve so that families can enjoy their big Christmas dinner together.
Of course if you’re one of those people who eat their dinner in the middle of the afternoon (around 6pm) then it won’t be a problem.

Forget Santa Claus and Cheer on the Three Kings
There’s no big portly guy squeezing down chimneys here. Tenerife’s version, like the rest of Spain, is the Tres Reyes (Three Kings) who pay a visit to Tenerife’s towns on the evening of the 5th January to bestow gifts on the children. Lots of towns on Tenerife have Tres Reyes parades, in some the kings arrive on camels. The tradition makes a lot more sense than the whole Santa Claus deal.

Let Them Eat Cake
It’s traditional to eat Roscón de Reyes (the Kings’ Cake) on Tres Reyes (6th January) but you can buy these throughout the Christmas period on Tenerife. Riscón de Reyes is a wreath shaped bready cake topped by candied fruit. It used to be traditional to put a dried bean and a figurine in the cake mix. Whoever got the figure was made honorary king for the day and the person who got the bean had to fork out for the cake (approx €8). Last time I tried Roscón de Reyes I got the bean, so I haven’t bothered since (you can take the boy out of Scotland but…).

Build a Snowman
Honestly, this is a popular local tradition if we get enough of the white stuff on Mount Teide. But on Tenerife there’s a bit of a difference. You build the snowman on the bonnet of your car and then try to make it to the coast before the snowman completely melts…and without crashing because you can’t see as you’ve got a snowman on your bonnet.

Check out the Beléns
These nativity scenes found everywhere on Tenerife (town halls, shop windows, hotels) can be incredibly detailed with intricate moving parts. Adults and children love them, especially when they spot el caganer – the guy who always gets ‘caught short’ out in the open.

Sunbathe on Christmas Day
If you haven’t done it before, there’s something bizarre about lounging about on the beach in your swimwear on Christmas Day, especially if there’s snow on Mount Teide and it’s a white Christmas on Tenerife.

¡Feliz Navidad a Todos!

Title: Las Galletas Late Shopping
Location: Las Galletas
Description: The shops are open until midnight and there will be street music and dance.
Date: 2011-12-17

Title: Christmas Street Band
Location: Los Cristianos
Description: From 6pm the streets in the centre of Los Cristianos will be filled with music.
Start Time: 18.00
Date: 2011-12-16

Title: Christmas Organ Concert & Recital
Location: Centro Civico, La Camella
Description: Get into the festive mood with live music from local folklore students. FREE entry, places limited. Starts at 7pm.
Start Time: 19.00
Date: 2011-12-13

Tenerife Magazine was in the beautiful old quarter of La Orotava to film the arrival of the Tres Reyes (Three Kings).

In Spain, it isn’t Father Christmas who brings gifts to children on Christmas Eve, but rather the Three Kings who, just as they brought gifts to the baby Jesus, bring gifts to children on the night before the Epiphany – January 5th.

In main towns all over Spain the Three Kings arrive bearing gifts of sweeties which are thrown to the crowds of excited children for whom sleep will be slow to come on this magical night.
In the morning, if they’ve been good they’ll find presents left by Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar. If they haven’t been good, they’ll find a lump of coal, but remarkably it seems no children are ever less than as good as gold

In La Orotava, as in many places on Tenerife, the Three Kings arrive on camels and this year Balthazar got a bit of a scare as his seat threatened to slip off and his camel decided he was going no further until it was all sorted out.

Trying hard not to step on a shepherd or reduce the wise men to 2, I picked my way through the large free standing nativity or belen (above) at the Casa de Los Capitanes Generales. Better known as the Tourist Information Centre just off Plaza del Adelantado, the historic courtyard under traditional Canarian wooden balconies was a subtle and unexpected bonus on my search for Christmas presence.

My original plans had melted away, popping up a day after the intended 3rd December opening of a temporary ice rink in Santa Cruz, I found the structure still at the building stage in Plaza de España. The lady in the Information Office said it should be ready tomorrow and laughed with a shrug. Oh well plenty more to see, first stop the Cabildo (Tenerife government) building, just a few steps away, for their annual belen (above) produced by the Museum of History and Anthropology. It has to be said it has got smaller over the years but is still a delight to walk around and was pulling in a steady stream of visitors. The intricate detail and great reverence shown to the Christmas story is very clear, full marks to designer Francisco Delgado Rodriguez, and best of all it’s free with a collection box for donations. This year’s charity is Hijas de la Caridad de San Vicente de Paul, a religious order formed in 1660 and dedicated to good works in the community.

Feeling suitably uplifted I felt like trying out another popular belen, this time the Caja Canarias bank headquarters in Plaza Patriotismo. The Christmas theme was hard to miss with big white shells on the outside of the building but that slightly tacky look was soon eclipsed as I stepped into the display hall. This is a big scale belen artesanal, Bethlehem seen from above as a working village either side of a mountain range. A small river runs through it and a little pond even has live fish in it. The attention to detail is amazing, from the baker putting his bread in and out of the oven to the cobbler raising his hammer and even a school of card players under a tree. For extra effect the lights dim every few minutes to give a night view with the pin pricks from houses giving a warm lived in feel. This too was free but there was no collection.

La Laguna was calling and first stop from the tram was the Museo de Ciencia y El Cosmos to see the Father Christmas iceberg. It was not my day for ice, this was just a cushion sized blob of ice on a stand, I nearly missed it, but there is a collection point underneath for children to leave letters to Papa Noel. The ice blob still can’t chill my enthusiasm for this museum, a mere 1.50 euros by paying by Bono bus ticket, get the full low down here.

The information centre gave me a boost and a tour around the back street rewarded me with some joyous window dressing. Some people really pull out the stops to make a display for Christmas, but back in Santa Cruz nature trumped them all again with the many displays of festive poinsettias in full bloom. The chicharro fish was in a sea of these red and yellow plants, they even have their own national day, 12 December. With more live music, night lighting displays and that ice rink to come, Santa Cruz and La Laguna are always worth a shopping trip, especially at Christmas time.

FACT FILE

Cabildo Belen – daily 9 am to 3 pm and 4 pm to 9.30 pm, except 24 & 31 December just morning session, 25 December, 1 & 6 January just afternoon session.

Caja Canarias Belen – Monday to Saturday 11 am to 1.30 pm and 5 pm to 8.30 pm, Sunday 10 am to 1 .30 pm.

Title: Disney Christmas
Location: Church Plaza, Los Cristianos
Link out: Click here
Description: A Boxing Day bonanza of Disney characters for all the family. Starts at 5 pm, everyone welcome.
Date: 2010-12-26

December 12th is National Poinsettia Day.
Tradition dictates that you should give a poinsettia on that day and it gives us an excuse to feature this most enduring of Christmas icons which brings a splash of crimson delight to the festive season.

On Tenerife, poinsettias grow wild at the side of the road, particularly around the north of the island where fed by winter showers they can reach up to ten feet in height and produce huge double heads of bracts (clustered leaves). From the end of November through to early February they turn the landscape into one big Christmas wonderland, well… a sort of tropical Christmas wonderland.

Flower facts
Originally from Mexico, it’s the plant’s bracts that produce their trademark crimson hue; the flowers are yellow and quite insignificant. Contrary to popular opinion, the poinsettia isn’t actually poisonous although the sap can cause minor skin irritation. Tests have shown that vast quantities of the plant would have to be consumed to cause any stomach upset, so here’s a piece of advice… don’t eat all the poinsettias!

What’s in a name?
The botanical name for poinsettia is Euphorbia pulcherrima, meaning ‘very beautiful’. In Chile and Peru the plant is known as the Crown of the Andes but in its native Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries, they are known as Flores de Noche Buena or flowers of the Holy Night.
This name comes from the story of Pepita, a poor Mexican girl who had no gift to lay at the feet of the baby Jesus at Christmas Eve mass. Her cousin Pedro tried to cheer her up by telling Pepita that if given in love, even the  humblest of gifts would please Christ. So Pepita picked some weeds from the side of the road and as she laid them at the feet of the Christ, they burst into brilliant red blooms – flores de noche buena.

Business is blooming
Poinsettias are the biggest selling flowering potted plant in the US and over the six-week run up to Christmas a staggering $300 million will be spent on some $75 million plants to decorate homes and offices.
There are over 100 varieties of poinsettias available and according to the Vancouver Sun, many attempts have been made over the years to seduce consumers away from the traditional red.
Horticultural experimentation to date has seen the production of blue and speckled poinsettias which sound rather nice. There was an attempt to create a poinsettia for the punk era by giving it crinkly bracts, but to be honest it’s more Wrinkled Rose than Johnny Rotten. But things went too far a few years ago when horticulturalists attempting to produce psychedelic poinsettias were clearly under the influence of hallucinogenics themselves and produced plants featuring pink with purple blotches and yellow with orange blotches.

Despite these floral seductresses the overwhelmingly most popular choice for the Christmas poinsettia remains pure, true red.