The Burial of the Sardine

The burial of the Sardine or in Spanish, El Entierro de la Sardina, takes place at the end of Carnaval all over Spain. Strangely enough on Fuerteventura the sardine is not buried, but set on fire. This happens after it has been paraded through the streets, and in Corralejo it is set alight on the beach next to the old harbour. The tradition dates back hundreds of years, see Goya's painting The burial of the Sardine. Its exact significance is no longer clear, though it could well be similar to the harvest festival in England. The harvest in this case is that of the fish stock.

The promanade around the beach was packed with people awaiting the sardine, by about eight pm. Funnily enough, they were packed in like sardines.

The sardine headed the procession through the streets and arrived at the beach where it was duly set on fire.

We knew the firework display, which follows the burial of the sardine, was going to be spectacular because in the morning the pyrotechnologist turned up and set up what looked like preparations for a rocket attack on Lanzarote! The police turned up and cordoned the harbour wall off and we noticed that the pyrotechnologist had to stand closest to the fireworks when they went off. We think this is a wonderful form of quality control.

The display was everything we expected. Very loud and spectacular, resulting in lots of "oohhs" and "ahhs".

Smoke in the water, Corralejo Fire in the sky, Corralejo