La Cruz de Tea (tea cross) - El Socorro - Tenerife

According to tradition, La Cruz de Tea (the Tea Cross) marks the place where the Guanches found the statue of Mary.

We go back in time about 700 years. Although the Canary Islands have already been 'discovered' by passing sailors, they have not yet been captured (read: converted). The ancient inhabitants of Tenerife, the Guanches, live as shepherds and gatherers in organized tribes. Each tribe has its own Guanche king, called Mencey .

There is no agreement on the year of appearance , but the majority believes that she appeared at the mouth of the Chimisay ravine, 95 years before the conquest of Tenerife, that is, she would appear from 1392 to 1401.

According to the legend of Fray Alonso de Espinosa , two Guanche herders wanted to lock their cattle in the caves when they noticed that the cattle were wandering around and would not enter. Searching for the cause, they looked towards the mouth of the Chimisay ravine and saw on a rock, almost at the edge of the sea, the figure of a woman whom they believed to be animated. Since men were forbidden to speak or approach women in deserted areas, they signaled her to leave so that the cattle could pass. Ultimately it turned out to be a wooden statue.

The statue is approximately one meter high and depicts a woman carrying a candle or torch in her left hand and a small boy in the right arm.

It is suspected that this (Mary) statue fell from a passing ship and then washed ashore. Others claim that the statue was deliberately left at the beach by Fransiscaners , with the intention of gently introducing the local population to Christianity.

Whatever the case, the shepherds take the statue with them, and it is given a place of honor in the hut of the local Mencey, where it has been venerated for years as the Goddess of the Sun, Chaxiraxi.

Today there is a cross at the place of the apparition.

Willem Vandenameele