Elsewhere: Festival Isleños 2008

A fiesta, not in the Canary Islands, but by and for descendants of Canary Islanders - the Festival Isleños 2008 - will be taking place this weekend, April 5th and 6th, at the Islenos Museum Complex in St. Bernard, Louisiana, United States.

This is the 32nd annual Isleños Fiesta, celebrating the Canary Islanders who settled in St. Bernard beginning in 1778 and presented by the parish's Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society.

Political performers: The blurb says, "About 35 singers, dancers and government officials from the Canary Islands will attend."

... and we just can't bite our tongue. Wonder what kind of "entertaining performance" the third group will be putting on for them? :)

History of the Canary Islands Colonizers

Between 1778 and 1783, the King of Spain (Charles III 1759-1788), sent Canary Islanders, known as Isleños, to colonize Louisiana. After colonizing previously uninhabited areas of New Orleans, the Isleños raised a great deal of the vegetable crops and poultry that were consumed in the city.

The Isleños came to Louisiana as soldier-farmers. The tradition of farming is deeply rooted in the history of the Canary Islands. Later, after selling their original land grants to French sugar planters many Isleños became hunters, trappers and fishermen. Isleños fought in the American Revolution, the Battle of New Orleans and every war in which the United States has been involved.

The Canary Islands, the first colony of the Spanish Empire, became the gateway to the New World. Christopher Columbus established the precedent of sailing across the Atlantic to the Americas from the Canaries in 1482. Sugarcane cultivation was introduced to the Americas through the Canary Islands. Large communities of Canary and descendents, known as Isleños exist today in Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and other countries throughout Central and South America. Colonists, largely from the islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria established the government of the city of San Antonio, Texas, in 1731.

The descendants of these soldier-farmers, have maintained their linguistic and ethnic identity and are the last living vestige of Spanish Colonial Louisiana. This festival began in 1976 and is held yearly to promote the Spanish heritage

Both St. Bernard Parish and the Isleños Museum sustained damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but they are determined to rebuild their community.

The 32nd annual Isleños Fiesta
Canary Islanders Heritage Society of Louisiana
Los Isleños Heritage & Cultural Society