7. EXALTATION OF THE CROSS

Leaving behind that building we find the road of El Medio de Arriba which still preserves a large

amount of its old houses. This road, besides the neighboring road of El Sol are famous because of the

celebrations on the 3rd of May upon the Cross devotion, the feasts which are well known in the

municipality and that stand out above all in the town nucleus of La Cruz Santa.

Nowad

ays, Los Realejos

has all over the

municipality

about three

hundreds of that

Christian

symbol, which

are present at

chapels, temples,

private houses,

in the heads of

streets, rocks and

cliffs in the sea

and in the forest,

roads of service

and royal roads, viewpoints or simply stuck in the ground, as identity signs of the Village.

The flower branches are an essential part of the celebration on the special 3rd of May. Chapels,

hermitages and crosses on the walls, irrespective of their location, wake up in their best dresses.

The great pyrotechnic exhibition takes place after evening, with a “pique”(competition) between the

two roads and is regarded as one of the greatest and most important in Europe, assembling for about three

hours thousands of visitors, who follow that show from the roads, borders, squares and other corners of the

municipality. Some Scholars point out that this “pique” comes from 1770 and the existence of two well

distinguished social classes: the owners of the lands where El Medio road passes, and the owners of the

adjoining properties and the poor peasants of El Sol road. In the middle of El Medio de Arriba road, we

find the crossroad that leads to El Lance and Icod el Alto. This is the legendary place where Mencey Bentor

jumped off the cliff to avoid being prisoner of the Spanish at the end of the conquest of Tenerife. Therefore,

there is a sculpture devoted to him placed in the viewpoint of El Lance, where we can also enjoy a splendid

overall view of the Orotava Valley. Coming back to the crossroad, in the road called Travesia El Pino, we

find a couple of barbuzano and centenarian pine trees which show their magnificence to anyone who goes

along.