Romeo and Juliet are not the only ones with a love story worth telling. Here you can read the most iconic legends in Tenerife of love
The Canary Islands are not just the perfect place to go on vacations and see the most amazing landscapes. It is full of stories that make the trip a unique memory. Some legends in Tenerife of love can even be a Shakespeare play. And not only in Tenerife, all the other Islands have some of the most beautiful and tragic myths that you need to know to make your trip more interesting.
Amarca
The story of Amarca it’s not the most happy one, and it definitely would need some tweaks to be told by Disney. Even though it’s not the most known, it is one of the legends in Tenerife of love that leave us with some great reflection. It is told that Amarca was one of the most beautiful women in Icod. She was the dream of most men, even of the Mencey Bélicar. She was so beautiful that shepherd Garaiga fell madly in love with her. Amarca was, as beautiful as she was, also kind of selfish. She rejected the shepherd in such a mean way that, full of sadness, Garaiga decided to end his life. When the town heard about it, Amarca felt so bad that she committed the same action. Some people say that in the Icod forest you can still hear Garaiga voice calling for Amarca.
Gara and Jonay, Love against all the odds
The story of Gara and Jonay is one of the most known legends in the Canary Islands. Set in La Gomera, the story tells us about how love sometimes is a gift worth fighting for. A long time ago, the Chorros of Epina were considered a magic fountain where people could see what the destiny had for their love life. If the water stays calm while you see your reflection, it means that you would have a nice love story, but if the water starts to rumble, it means that that love was not good for anyone. The princess Gara went to see what was her destiny and as soon as she saw her reflection the water started to move fast.
As that was the Beñesmén holiday, at that time it was New Year’s Eve, a lot of people from the other Islands used to celebrate it in La Gomera. One of Tenerifes mencey and his son went there. Jonay fell in love with Gara as soon as he saw her, and she fell too. The love birds decided to tell their families about their union, but when they announced it, the volcano Echeyde (the now Teide) started to activate and the island rumbled. Their parents took this as a bad sign and decided that they could not be together.
Against all odds, the couple runway the highest point in El Cedro and decided to stay together. But their happiness did not last. Pretty soon, their parents and some local people went on their look. When they found them, Gara and Jonay decided that it was better to die together than to live apart, so with a double end stick in the middle they hugged and nailed their hearts. That place where they were together is now called the National Park of Garajonay in La Gomera.
Iballa and Hernan Peraza
Around the times of the canary conquest, a forbidden love came to life. The love between Hernan Peraza, lord of La Gomera, and Iballa, a local indigenous girl, was illegal due to their class differences. Peraza used to visit Iballa in her home, which was a cave. Against this union, the local people decided to kill Peraza to end what they considered to be an immoral love. One day they went to Iballa’s house looking for him and even though she tried to protect him, at the end the people shot him with a dart. It is thanks to this story that what was Iballa’s house is now called La Degollada del Conde or Degollada de Peraza.
The violet of the heights
A lot has been told about why the Viola Palmensis grows on the highest of La Palma. Tell says that a long time ago, a young couple used to hide to meet because their love was not approved by anyone. That even the devil was so against it that created a wall to separate the couple. The young man started to try to jump over it to meet the girl, but at the end he died falling from the risk the wall was located in. The girl in desperation started to look for him, but finally she was found frozen on the ground with a weird shine on her skin. It is where they found her body that this flower grows in spring. It is also told that the devil turned the boy into a column of the Caldera of Taburiente.
If you want to know more about some of Tenerife curiosities, we recommend you to read our post where you can find some interesting facts about this amazing island.
