Fiestas de La Encarnación and La Manzana – Valleseco
Valleseco, municipality of Gran Canaria famous for its apples and cider, celebrates the festival of La Encarnación and La Manzana between 22 September – 15 October 2023, a celebration of the municipality, its people, and its customs.
On the first Sunday of October, this year on October 1, the other great celebration of the municipality takes place in honour of Our Lady of the Incarnation. It is also the Apple Festival in which the neighbours come on pilgrimage with their carts from all the neighbourhoods dressed in their typical costumes to offer the Virgin the products of the land on the Saturday before the main day.
In 2011, this festival was declared a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest by the Government of the Canary Islands, hence, a list of activities has been devised to promote this municipality of the island’s medians every year.
The apple is the quintessential symbol of Valleseco. The French or Canadian pippin stands out for its quality and peculiar sweet and sour flavor. It was introduced back in 1858 by the then-mayor, who decided to recover the vacant lands of the municipality with fruit trees. Currently, the Valleseco apple serves as the basis for the production of Gran Valle Cider. In addition, it gives its name to a festival, that of the Apple, in which, among other events, a massive pilgrimage is celebrated on the eve of the main festival; a craft fair in which various artisans from the municipality exhibit and show their work to the public, ranging from carpenters, ceramists, leather and stone craftsmen, basket makers to weavers, traditional costume tailor or woodcarver; a competition of dishes made with apples and tastings of cider and other products related to this fruit. Among the events that have the most tradition within these festivals due to their prestige and wide participation, is the Abenechara Folkloric Meeting, which brings together Canarian groups from all the islands and from outside the archipelago.
Highlights:
23 September: at 12:00 Raising the flag and official opening of the festivities
24 September: World Tourism Day festivities in the North of Gran Canaria. Organized by the Commonwealth of the North of Gran Canaria, held in the Área Recreativa de La Laguna from 10:00.
at 10:15 Livestock Show.
at 10:30 Children’s workshops.
at 10:45 Live Canarian music.
at 11:30 Ceremony of awards to different companies for their work.
at 12:00 Presentation of recognitions of the Northern Commonwealth Gran Canaria.
at 12:30 Horse race.
Friday 29 de septiembre: The XXV Festival Folclórico de la AF Abenechara in the Plaza Municipal at 20:30.
30 September: at 11:00 Biker Meeting in the Municipal Plaza. Eucharist at 18:30, followed by Romería, a pilgrimage offering
at 21:30 Zumba exhibition in the Plaza municipal at 22:30 Verbena, a lively street party with the orchestras: Furia Joven,Star Music and DJ Promaster. at 00:00 Firework spectacle display
Sunday 1 October: at 10:00 Artisan Craft Stalls in the Plaza Municipal. at 12:00 Religious Function in Honour of Our Lady of the Incarnation, followed by a procession through the streets. at 14:00 Popular Food: “Fabada” in the Plaza Municipal. Price: €3 in favour of the local Civil Protection group. at 15:00 Concert in the Plaza Municipal: Maldita EGB and Karma. at 16:00 Children’s Fiesta with bouncy castles in the surrounding area of Plaza Municipal. at 20:00 Night of humour with Maestro Florido and Omayra Cazorla in the Plaza Municipal.
See the full program (in Spanish) HERE!