The celebrations of the Virgin Mary of Candelaria is a spiritual and religious part of the Canary Islands of Spain. This is also called Black Madonna. She is also the benefactor saint of Canary Islands. The feast of Lady is celebrated on February 2 and August 5 every year. Design of her main Church was proposed by Jose’ Enrique Marrero.
According to some records, a statue of Virgin Mary having a child in one of her hand and a candle in other was discovered on the beach of Chimisay by two Guanche goat herds. It was when the Tenerife was not completely occupied by the Castilian. It is also recorded that one of the shepherds has thrown a stone at the statue, but his that arm got paralyzed, and when the other tried to stab the statue with Knife, he ended stabbing himself. But later on, Anton enslaved by Castilians named this statue as that of the Virgin Mary.
After the proper appearance of this statue with biblical events, a festival was started to celebrate in the year 1497. This statue is dressed up in robes of various jewels and colors. Clement VIII announced Her the Patron of the Canary Islands in 1559. This virgin is widely requested to stop plagues, volcanic and epidemics. On the celebration days of Virgin, a large number of people show up from all parts of the Canary Island and South America. The image of Virgin of Candelaria is shifted to the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife - the capital of Canary Islands after every seven years. Convent of the Dominican Fathers who are adjacent to Basilica looks after the Madonna. It is an important site to visit for those who have an interest in history and religion.
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