A little "naivety" Christmas tale from the Canary Island of Tenerife

 

When Peter was a little boy, growing up in Spain’s Canary Island of Tenerife in the 1960s, Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, only had to climb down a dozen or so chimneys. There were very few European children living on the island and local kids knew only of the magic of the three Wise Kings of Orient. Father Christmas was just a quaint old fellow they had begun to refer to as Papa Noel, and he was definitely looked upon as very inferior indeed.

Papa Noel was still quite a novelty to Spanish children in the 1960s

Little Peter, the foreign child from Great Britain, and his best Spanish friend, Manolito, each worshipped their own provider of Christmas gifts. Each had been taught, from a very early age, that his own particular belief, or joyful tradition, was better by far than the other’s.

Anyway, way back in 1965, Santa Claus came down the chimney at Peter’s house, as usual on the night of 24^th December, with stockings full of brilliant toys. On the following morning, Peter was in a state of great excitement. He opened his presents and played and played and played. His best Spanish friend, Manolito, was green with envy, as Peter innocently showed off his new lorry, train and cowboy pistol. In fact, he refused to talk to Peter, his neighbour on the edge of the banana plantation, for days.

A couple of weeks later, the Wise Kings of Orient trotted up on their camels to Manolito’s grand house in the middle of a banana plantation. When Manolito opened his presents on 6^th January it was his turn to leap about in a state of great excitement. His father was a very important man and seemed to get preferential treatment from the Wise Kings.

The three Wise Kings, Melchior, Gaspar and Baltazar crossing the deserts.

Pillowcases, not stockings, were packed with extravagant and superb toys. They appeared far better than Peter’s and were spread over a Persian carpet for all to admire. Yes, Manolito had received many more and grander presents than Peter. He even got a belt with two golden cowboy pistols. What’s more, by the time Manolito began to play with his lorry and train, Peter’s were all very worn indeed. Wheels had fallen off and they were now only fit for the poor boy who lived in a hovel down the lane. The pistol no longer even made a bang. It was Peter now who was green with envy, and he too refused to talk to Manolito for days and days. 

News of this envious behaviour between two little boys reached King Melchior, the senior of the three Wise Kings. He summoned King Baltazar.

“Ah! Good morning, Baltazar. Listen, I’ve received some rather extraordinary reports. My falcon tells me you’ve been having furtive meetings with that old snowy fool they call Santa and, in fact, that you appear to get on quite well with him. Is this so?”

“Well, I don’t really know him well, your Majesty, but the one some people call Father Christmas is quite a pleasant old chap, actually. We meet every year and share a glass or two of port on the roof of All Saints, the British Anglican church in Puerto de la Cruz. But I spy on him, of course! Um, if you remember, you did send me to spy on him a few years ago in order to find out where he got his children’s toys from!”

“Did I? My goodness, gracious me! Very well then. I mean, good. Well done, indeed!” stuttered King Melchior, rather caught off guard.

All Saints Church, in Puerto de la Cruz, built upon rock and tradition.

“Well, I would like you to negotiate a truce with him. All this competing for the finest toys and between our religions and beliefs is very confusing. It is stirring up trouble amongst ordinary human beings. We cannot have little children, like Peter and Manolito, falling for adult tricks and jealousies, and about beliefs and religions being better than the other, don't you think?”

So, the very next year, when King Baltazar and Father Christmas had their annual meeting on the roof of All Saints Church in the town of Puerto de la Cruz, it went on for much longer than usual, a bit like that Brexit business. Negotiations were quite tough and each needed to consult advisors around the continents. But a treaty was signed under which children should not be affected by adult interests, predilections or political and religious nonsense.

It is after the sun has set over the great Mount Teide volcano that the three Wise Kings and Father Christmas make their way to the Canary Islands.

The process would take a few years, of course, and is still in its early days, but King Melchior’s idea was for the Three Wise Kings and Father Christmas not only to use the same shopping centres and toy manufacturers, but also to share the duty and pleasures of bringing joy to children around the World.

And so it began to happen. In fact, Spain’s Canary Island of Tenerife had the great honour of becoming the headquarters of this new Association of Shared and Differing Beliefs and Religions. Today, children on this and other islands under Spanish dominion are blessed.  In fact they are very lucky indeed. That very sensible and uniting agreement signed by King Baltazar on behalf of the Wise Kings and Father Christmas on the English slate roof of All Saints Church in the Taoro Park, enables them to receive gifts from both Father Christmas and the Three Wise Kings.

This nativity scene can be found at the Bodegón El Monasterio.

In other words, children of all nationalities enjoy visits from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, celebrating the birth of Jesus, but can also expect equally wonderful gifts from the Wise Kings in January when they come to present baby Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Actually, between you and I, the adults keep most of the gold and things, and Father Christmas has taken to climbing over balconies because of the lack of chimneys on the island. Well, homes don’t often require heating in the sunny Canaries.

But the whole point is that the idea works. As a result of that meeting on the roof of All Saints Church, both Peter’s and Manolito’s grandchildren have learnt to love both Father Christmas AND the Three Wise Kings of Orient.

Sharing and being tolerant of each other’s beliefs, especially at Christmas, is a wonderful thing, you know. 

All the best to you all, wherever you may be, and do be kind and understanding.

By John Reid Young

Author of books. For more information, click on the images to the right of this page or on the following text:

 Travel Stories in Tenerife and the Canary Islands

Owner of Tenerife Private Tours www.tenerifeprivatetours.com

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When Tourists saddled up to the call of a volcano in Tenerife.

    In recent weeks, since the eruption from the La Cumbre Vieja mountain range began on 19th September, on Spain's Canary Island of La Palma, scientists have been learning and exchanging more information about Strombolian eruptions than ever before. However, even they understand that against the forces of nature, especially those deep in the Earth's bowels, mankind has not got a chance.

A beautiful sunset, with Mt Teide above the clouds. To the right, a dramatic plume speaks of La Palma's eruption. 

(Photo taken during a picnic on 21.09.2021). 

     What began as a sparkling and exciting event, with magma and gases creeping through volcanic tubes and pushing their way to the surface, like a kettle coming to the boil, soon turned into a nightmare, and devastation for inhabitants of La Palma. 

     Hundreds of homes have been buried under rivers of lava, swallowing up the memories of generations and turning some of the finest banana plantations into petrified, fuming rock, whilst treasured black-sand beaches have been smothered by smoldering lava. Inhabitants are also suffering the consequences of the fallout, in the form of ash particles weighing down roofs and blanketing everything with something resembling powdered, black snow. Sulphur dioxide has poluted the air they breathe. COVID pandemic rules imply the compulsory wearing of masks. Now people wear masks to protect their health, not from a man-spread virus, but from the dangerous levels of volcanic debris and chemicals in the air. 

Like a snake, a river of magma finds its way in La Palma

     The island of La Palma, la isla bonita, is over 50 miles away but we, on the island of Tenerife, have memories of our own volcanoes, of course. One only has to visit the great Las Cañadas caldera to realise that Mount Teide Volcano is just a small hillock compared to what may have been there long before. We also have written memories of the last eruption on the island, a little over 100 years ago. Not only memories, but a feeling, not so deep down, that anything might happen one day. After all, as La Palma has come to remind us, the Canary Islands are still volcanically active.

     On rare occasions we have felt the minor Earth tremors that have been keeping people awake on La Palma. Some of us remember, only a few years ago, before the under-sea eruption off the island of El Hierro in 2011, that there were whispers about an imminent eruption on Tenerife. A series of earth tremors, centred between the towns of  Santiago del Teide and Icod, got people all het up. Even a few English newspapers told their readers that Teide was about to blow its top! A maximum register of 3.2 on the Richter Scale was not much to worry about, but the coincidence of a number of similar shakes over a period of weeks persuaded the authorities and scientists to come clean about the fact that something might have been about to happen. 

     Although nothing actually did occur at the time, local gossip also led to similar conclusions. Tomás, the lovely old gentleman from La Guancha who used to come with his lorry on Saturdays to sell us home-grown fruit and vegetables, told us there was a cave to the south of Icod from which nasty smelling gases had begun to appear. Mind you he was also convinced that the unusually hot weather we had been having at the time was also due to volcanic activity!

     The authorities tried to persuade public opinion that if anything did happen, it would not be on a catastrophic scale. Indeed they believed, if it happened at all, that it would be “a gentle, Strombolian eruption” which might perhaps start a few forest fires and burn a house or two, but no more. Scientists supported that belief. However, as La Palma has evidenced now, nobody can predict nor control the damage an eruption might cause, or where exactly a volcano might decide to appear in its explosive beginnings. Having said that, scientists, using modern equipment and satellite images, were almost exact in pinpointing where the Earth would give this time.

The "gentle eruption" of Chinyero (Tenerife, 1909)

     Perhaps memories of the last eruption on the island of Tenerife, in 1909, had persuaded people that any eruption would be "gentle", until this new La Palma volcano. 

     Nevertheless, when Chinyero erupted, the municipality of the Valley of Santiago was practically cut off from the rest of the world. Messenger pigeons became the essential means of communication during the eruption. The information carried by the birds took no more than 5 minutes to reach Garachico from Santiago del Teide. From there, the news was then urgently transmitted to the authorities by telegram.

     The eruption of Chinyero, however minor, produced a whole range of reactions. Fearful inhabitants took their religious images up to the lava flows and legend suggests the lava came to a halt where they stood. Victorian tourism found ways to take advantage of the situation and a number of excursions were organised to visit the volcano. Moreover, the Chinyero is famous for having been the first volcano to have been mentioned in the press, and to have been filmed and photographed. It is also the first to have been studied by contemporary scientists and about which extensive, scientific reports were made.

     Chinyero began to erupt just after two o'clock in the afternoon of 18th November, 1909. Its activity lasted for 10 days, unlike the new La Palma eruption which, as I write, is two months old and still going strong. The eruption was preceded by a series of earth tremors and underground noises which alerted the inhabitants in Santiago del Teide and neighbouring regions. The eruptive process began when a 600 metre long crevice opened up and this was accompanied by loud explosions, heard as far away as La Laguna and Santa Cruz. The eruptive column towered sky high. As one local resident described,

“It gave a great thundering sound and the plants and trees flew into the air with the smoke and earth. The shrubs went up, turning over and over and were covered in black and red earth. Huge stones were also flung out, everything spreading out when it reached high up, and bits of gravel came down on us, so hot that we could not hold them in our hands.”

      There are also memorable tales about folk in the Orotava Valley. Some were brave enough to take a close look at the eruption. I remember being told by Noel Reid that he witnessed the eruption at close range. He was a lad of seventeen at the time and remembered that there had been a series of earth tremors for a couple of months before the eruption. 

     The first sign that the earth was attempting to breathe was when news arrived that gases had appeared from a cavity on the side of Mount Teide. Everyone thought the peak itself would erupt and foreign residents hastily began to pack their bags. Many British residents took boxes and cases for safe-keeping at Casa Reid in Puerto de la Cruz or at El Nido, the Vice Consul, Tom Reid’s home, itself built in 1894 on the top of a volcanic rock. Some residents were invited to stay, resting wherever they could find space, indoors or on the verandas. 

El Nido, the British Vice-Consul's house in the Orotava Valley.

     From other parts of the island, the noise of the explosions from the eruption could be heard like distant thunder, and the amazing red glow of lava shooting into the sky were very spectacular. Local people were frightened. The Bishop of La Laguna ordered everyone to pray. But the rumblings and the glow seemed to go on for days without apparently causing great harm. 

Tourists from around the island got a close look at the volcanic eruption (1909)

     Therefore, like a number of others, Noel Reid and a group of mostly Spanish friends, including Anita Perez, a beautiful local girl who lived at a house called Los Frailes, could no longer resist the temptation. They decided to get a closer look and rode their horses as far as Icod de los Vinos, and up into the hills along the old carriage track.

They rode into the hills from Icod de los Vinos

     They left their horses at a certain distance, for fear the animals would become nervous as they neared the constant explosions, and walked higher into the hills where they set up camp close to the inhospitable black, old lava flow produced by another volcano, the Trevejos, which destroyed part of the original trading port of Garachico in 1706. 

The Trevejos Volcano erupting and destroying part of Garachico, as depicted by artist Ubaldo Bordanova

     The following day, the intrepid group of adventures then proceeded on foot to within half a mile of Chinyero, to see the earth flinging rocks high in the air and spewing lava. Noel Reid, who just seven years later was much closer to hell, earning the DSO for bravery at Ypres in the First World War, and his party of youngsters, were not the only ones to get a close look at Chinyero. 

Captain Noel Spence Reid DSO, MC (born in Tenerife in 1892)

     Another member of the distinguished British community, Austin Baillon, often recalled his own father, Alex Baillon’s memories. According to him, the thunderous explosions could be heard from as far as the island of Gran Canaria. People in nearby villages, like Guía de Isora, spent the best part of a week in the streets. Seven craters opened up on a plain. Liquid stone was blasted 600 feet into the sky and glowing lava gushed into the night in four huge, slow-moving rivers, like immense burning snakes. Alex Baillon said it was a splendid sight to see the frightful force of nature. 

     There is a tale about the priest of Tamaimo holding continuous prayers in the little chapel, begging for the lava not to reach them. It stopped just before the village. 

     Until the current eruption of La Palma, it was hoped, and almost believed, that any future eruption would be as safe and as obedient to Christian prayer as Chinyero, or perhaps no worse than Chahorra, the fissure eruption that appeared on the side of Pico Viejo, alongside Mount Teide in 1798. 

     One can only pray, in fact, judging by what we have witnessed these days on La Palma. Prayer, even for the non-believer, is all we have when nature decides the pressure has become too much. 

BY JOHN REID YOUNG

Author of books:

THE SKIPPING VERGER AND OTHER TALES, 

A SHARK IN THE BATH AND OTHER STORIES, 

EL HOMBRE DE LA GUANCHA Y OTRAS HISTORIAS, 

collections of short stories set in the Canary Islands,

THE JOURNALIST, a novel. 

(For more information, please click on the images to the right of this page).

Owner of TENERIFE PRIVATE TOURS http://tenerifeprivatetours.com/

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