Cultural associations and the historical memory of the Guanches in Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Tenerife is one of the seven islands of the Canary archipelagos. It was conquered by the Spaniards in 1496 after almost a year of fighting with the Guanches, the indigenous population that lived on the island. The Guanches were a pastoral society of goat herders which after the conquest were completely assimilated by the new settlers. After the conquest, new customs and ways of life settled on the island, but since the pastoral economy continued to function, a lot of practices which are said to belong to the Guanches survived among peasants and goat herders. Some of these practices are, for example: el lenguaje silbado (whistle language), a whistle register of Spanish that is used to communicate especially in the mountains; el salto del pastor (shepherd's leap), a way of moving easily through the mountains thanks to a long spear; el juego del palo (pole game), a martial game of stick fighting; and playing chacaras y tambor (chacaras and drum), two instruments that are said to have a very ancient origin.…show more content… Starting from this period people began to organize in groups to practice and recover these activities in order to make them survive. After the death of Franco in 1975 these groups organized in sport and cultural associations. This thesis will look into the work of cultural and sports associations in maintaining alive and transmitting these practices together with the memory of the Guanches in contemporary