Traditional games star in the XVII Fair of Zafra.

TRIBUTES WILL BE PAID TO THE TOY PLAYER ANTONIO SANTANA 'EL PICHI' AND THE MASPALOMAS FOLCLORIST, ANATASIO MORENO.

The residents of the town of El Tablero will celebrate this Saturday 14 June, starting at five in the afternoon, its XVII Zafra Fair, which this year will dedicate its monographic theme to the memory of traditional games.

This Fair has been structured into five events or key moments that will start at five in the afternoon with a craft exhibition in which the FEDAC collaborates., a tasting of typical food from the harvest prepared by the neighbors and which includes the traditional hill stew, a photo exhibition about traditional games, a reading corner provided by the Municipal Library with that specific theme, the exhibition and sale of gastronomic products of the municipality and a sample of all the posters presented to the contest for the illustration of this event, won by graphic designer Nayra Santana García.

The Fair will have craft workshops taught by the Popular University; the enjoyment of traditional Canarian games organized and supervised by the Youth Department and the town's social groups, and a sample of the club fight and the shepherd's jump.

The organizers explain that the two most relevant moments of the Fair will come with the live exhibition of traditional sung games., which will represent boys and girls from Castillo del Romeral who have worked on their research and recovery during this course, and with the tribute of recognition that the City Council and the neighbors will pay to Antonio Santana Quintana 'El Pichi', one of the greatest experts and specialists in the manufacture and practice of traditional Canarian games.

In that same line of work, The Fair will also host one more year the leading participation of La Cuadrilla of the elders of El Tablero as the main transmitters of native wisdom and customs.. In this edition they will perform a pineapple descamisada and the dances from the traditional children's songbook “El baile del Gato” and “La cancion de la viudita”.

The closing of the Fair will be done with the taifa dance, that this year the folklore groups Los Maspalomas will entertain, La Cucaña and El Axulagal, and the Las Dunas and Los Horcones parties. During this dance a tribute will also be paid to the folklorist founder of Los Maspalomas, Anastasio Moreno González, for his dedication and devotion to traditional music and his constant involvement in the social and cultural life of El Tablero.

The Zafra Fair is a recreational and cultural event organized by the Department of Culture of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council with the aim of remembering the sharecropping origins of the south of Gran Canaria and specifically the town of El Tablero, whose original population was dedicated to this economic activity until well into the tourist development.