Corpus Carpets

The Corpus de La Orotava festivities take place between the months of May and June. The celebration involves making carpets out of flowers, salt and shrubs and laying them all around the streets near the town hall square. The main carpet usually takes up the entire surface of the square and is made using different coloured volcanic sand, which is brought straight from the Teide National Park.

La Orotava has held this festivity ever since its inception as a town, but it became famous in 1847 when certain members of the Monteverde family made a carpet of flowers under the inspiration of Leonor del Castillo to adorn the way for the Corpus platform as it passed their house.

These carpets are one of the most significant artistic expressions that you will find during the festivities. Dating back to 1847, they are the inheritance of an idea conceived by Leonor del Castillo outside the Monteverde house.

Nowadays, the Carpet-makers' Association is responsible for preserving and encouraging the making of these flower carpets.

The Corpus Christi is also a festival in La Laguna, where they too lay carpets along the main streets, as well as celebrating the Eucharist and holding a traditional procession, like many other municipalities on the Island.

• Where: La Orotava, La Laguna and Tacoronte.
• When: May-June.