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Monday, February 04, 2008
Carnaval Monday: Los Indianos
It's the turn of Santa Cruz de La Palma, the capital of our neighbouring island, to provide the curious custom of the day in the province.
The video above, found via the folks at Un vistazo a Santa Cruz de Tenerife (more images 
), is a promotional video for the Los Indianos fiesta that happens in Santa Cruz de La Palma every year on Carnaval Monday. Even if you don't understand, there's some lovely footage of the beautiful town - before it becomes besieged by thousands of battlers with baby powder.
The fiesta of Los Indianos, in which everyone (about 50,000 people last year) dresses in white - men preferably in the guayaberas (a.k.a. Beach wedding shirts) traditionally associated with Cuba and, also often carrying their luggage - better yet if it is typical of the period; leather suitcases and trunks , maybe filled with Monopoly money, started off to poke fun at the emigrants returning from Cuba (At the start of the 20th Century, around 7 ships a month left La Palma for La Habana (Havana.), who, having "made their fortune" arrived back home in La Palma ostentatiously showing off their wealth and finery.
These fiestas, to the rhythm of Son Cubano, also enact a talcum powder battle in the city's streets. First mentioned in writing in 1867, by José Viera y Clavijo as "los polvos" (the powders), though the tradition itself is older than that.
Award winning travel writer and author of More Ketchup than Salsa, Joe Cawley enlisted to serve in the talcum war one year and survived, battle warn - if smelling of roses and possibly being "as smooth as a baby's derriere" can be called that - to tell the tale of the Battle in a bottle.
Sheila Crosby, who says, "When I lived in Santa Cruz, you could follow the progress of the parade by the cloud of talc drifting above the four-storey buildings on the route, " has photos of Los Indianos, 2007 here and, if we're really fortunate, perhaps she may post a report later at her new blog about the island of la Palma, A small rock in the Atlantic.
The talcum powder - about 5,000 kilograms of the stuff was given out by the town hall this year - harks back to an age old custom of throwing eggs (the white and yolk having been previously removed) refilled with talc (or flour) and confetti at the masked carnaval goers from the windows and balconies.
Just don't go asking me why this age-old custom exists.
Officially, these fiestas started at about noon or before - it was on TV most of the afternoon - and the parade carries on throughout the evening and on well into the night. The talcum powder stays around for weeks, apparently! :)
More photos: Indianos Santa Cruz La Palma 2007 .
More in Spanish: La Palma: La capital se viste de blanco con el desfile de Los Indianos, Los Indianos de la Palma , Los Indianos de la Palma , Más de 50.000 indianos toman La Palma , Indianos en la Wikipedia. 
If you think throats will be rather dry in all that talcum powder, don't worry, there'll probably be the odd mojito - traditional Cuban cocktail made from rum, citrus and mint - to refresh the revellers. :)
Cuban Mojito recipe
The original authentic recipe from Havana Cuba
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
Juice from 1 lime (2 ounces)
4 mint leaves
1 sprig of mint
Havana Club white Rum (2 ounces)
2 ounces club soda
Source: Taste of Cuba.
The word mojito is derived from the diminutive of the word mojo, which is a Canarian word for the sauce that originated in the Canary Islands.
The word and the sauce were introduced into Cuba and the Caribbean, due to heavy Canarian emigration. The recipe is for the authentic mojito much favored by Ernest Hemmingway (and rediscovered by Michael Palin in his Hemmingway Adventure), direct from the coctail's birthplace, the La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, Cuba. Those of you who don't have time to mix coctails or go all the way to Havana can also find La Bodeguita del Medio in an alleyway off Kensington High Street in London or try the trendy restaurant and pub, Mojos y Mojitos, in the old quarter of Calle de La Noria, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Labels: Carnaval 2008
