Our Lady of the Snows

Patrona del Valle de Agaete · la Bajada de la Rama (Gran Canaria)

Next to the sea, in the Agaete Valley, a hermitage keeps a beautiful flamenco table of Our Lady of the Snow, around which is celebrated the ancient Bajada de la Rama, one of the most unique festivals of the Canary Islands.

Origin and history

The hermitage of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves de Agaete is documented in the second half of the 16th century, ordered to be built by Francisco Palomares, descendant of Anton Cerezo and Constanza Palomares; he was soon a religious reference from the north of Gran Canaria. The devotion to the Virgin of the Snow was introduced in the Canary Islands with the Christianization of the islands in the 15th century. The venerated image is a remarkable table of Flemish school: in 1963 the original flamenco painting, described by the local press as "the greatest discovery of the century for Agaete," was discovered under the painting then visible.

His main feast, on August 5, is held with marine parties and, above all, with the famous Bajada de la Rama: the people come with branches of the Tamadaba pine tree to meet the Virgin, in a tradition of great antiquity that the scholars link to ancient rain rogations, now integrated into Marian devotion. The Virgin is invoked as a protector of the countryside, the rain and the sailors of the valley.

Canonical coronation: not found in the sources.