Holidays and traditions

The municipality’s most outstanding festivities are of a religious nature, largely referring to the patron, St. John the Baptist, with processions through the old quarter of the town on June 23 and 24, accompanied by bonfires and fireworks and a popular pilgrimage, where men and women dressed in traditional attire dance to the rhythm of traditional Canary Island music. All the different quarters and villages also celebrate the day of their patrons, and in March and April there are traditional Holy Week processions, some of them quite spectacular, such as the procession of Our Lady of Solitude, on the Cardones Mountain, where the darkness of night is lit by the large number of bonfires all over the mountain.

Festivities that are celebrated in the municipality:

This municipality’s other festivities are: JANUARY
20th – St. Sebastian (Arucas town centre)
APRIL - MAY
Festivity of the Cross (La Cruz)
MAY
Festivity of St. Joseph of the Mountain (El Trapiche).
Festivity of St. Rita (Juan XXIII).
Festivity of St. Joseph the Worker (Los Portales).
Festivity of the Christ of Health (El Cerrillo), with the possibility of visiting the interior of the Calvary Chapel.
Festivity of St. Isidore the Farmer (Montaña de Cardones).
Festivity of St. Ferdinand (Lomo de Arucas).
Festivity of Our Lady of Fatima (Lomo de Quintanilla).
Festivity of St. Francis Xavier (San Francisco Javier).
In May and June, there are Corpus Christi processions in town and in nearly all the districts, with the local inhabitants forming splendid carpets of flowers, dyed sawdust or salt.
JUNE
Festivity of St. Peter (Bañaderos).
Festivity of St. John (Arucas).

JULY
Festivity of St. John "The Smaller" (Hoya de San Juan, El Hornillo and Castillejos).
Festivity of Our Lady of Lourdes (Visvique).
Festivity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Montañeta, Santidad, Arucas town, El Puertillo and Tinocas).
Festivity of St. Louis Gonzaga (Lomo Espino).

JULY - AUGUST
Festivity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Escaleritas, Bañaderos).
AUGUST
Festivity of St. Patricia (Transmontaña).
AUGUST - SEPTEMBER
Festivity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Tinocas).
SEPTEMBER
Festivity of St. Lucia (El Puertillo).
Festivity of Our Lady of the Rosary (La Goleta).
OCTOBER
Festivity of Our Lady of the Rosary (Tres Barrios).
NOVEMBER
Festivity of St. Andrew (San Andrés).
DECEMBER

Saint Lucia, with a large number of events and a procession carrying the image through the town’s streets.

As for popular festivities, they include the carnival (February-March), with processions, fancy dress balls and the “burial of the sardine”. The most outstanding events take place in the town centre itself, together with the traditional carnivals on Cardones Mountain.