Sandos San Blas Nature Resort & Golf, located in Tenerife (Canary Islands) celebrated the Gánigo 2012 awards ceremony, a recognition San Miguel de Abona city council gives this year to  honor the pay tribute to everyone who contributed during the year in the region development.

This event, celebrated every year by “Centro de Iniciativas y Turismo de las Comarcas del Sur de Tenerife”, attended almost 400 guests. An special mention was dedicated to all the professionals and volunteers who helped  extinguishing the fire that strucked the island last summer.

 The winners this year have been:

•  Hotels, Hoteles Reverón.

• Shop and craft, Centro Comercial Abora y Chafiras S.A.

• Amusement and entertainment, Karting Club.
• Restaurants, bars and discos, El Lajar de Bello.
• Travels, Canarias .com

- Adeje, Asociación Española contra el Cáncer, AECC.
- Arico, D. Ramón Desiderio Martín Flores.
- Arona, Escuela de Folklore de Arona.
- Granadilla de Abona, Sociedad Cultural José Reyes Martín.
- Guía de Isora, Club de Surf Punta Blanca.
- San Miguel de Abona, Sociedad de Instrucción y Recreo Club Casino San Miguel.
- Santiago del Teide, Restaurante El Rincón de Juan Carlos.
- Vilaflor, Fuente Alta.

Special Mention: Radio FM los 40 Principales Sur Tenerife.

Honorable mention: professionals and volunteers who helped on the south of Tenerife forest fire extinguishing.

Photography: Rafael Mendiguchía Díaz

Sandos Hotels presents Dia de Los Muertos October 31-Nov 2: Parades, altars, traditional foods, and cultural displays and performances

Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos is an annual holiday celebrated throughout Mexico on November 1st and 2nd. During these days, families gather to honor, celebrate, and remember the lives of deceased relatives and friends. Many families build private alters in their homes or on gravesites to honor their deceased.  These altars typically feature symbolic objects or ofrendas (offerings) such as sugar skulls, marigolds, favorite foods and drinks of the departed, pictures of or possessions of the deceased, and candles.  The purpose of these altars is to encourage visits from the departed souls.

Orange Mexican marigolds called cempasúchil are an important symbol of this holiday, as they are believed to attract the souls of the deceased.  Flowers are placed on graves and altars, and in some ceremonies the petals are removed and spread over the area. In modern Mexico, the marigold is often called Flor de Muerto (Flower of the Dead).

Another common symbol of the holiday is the skull (calavera), which celebrants represent in masks, called calacas (skeleton).  Skulls are also represented in foods such as sugar or chocolate skulls, which are inscribed with the name of the recipient on the forehead and given as gifts to either the deceased or the living. Additional foods include pan de muerto (dead man’s bread, sweet bread made from flour and eggs and shaped into skulls, animals, or bones.

Mexican families typically spend time together around their family altar praying and sharing memories and stories about the deceased. In some locations, celebrants wear shells on their clothing, so when they dance in celebrations, the noise will wake the dead and encourage them to visit the altar.  Pillows and blankets are often left near the altar so the deceased can rest after their long journey to visit their living friends and family. In some parts of Mexico, such as the towns of Mixquic, Pátzcuaro and Janitzio, people spend the entire night in the cemetery near the graves of their departed relatives. In many locations, people have meals at the gravesites.

Some families create short poems called calaveras (skulls) that describe the personalities, habits, or interesting stories related to the deceased. This custom originated in the 18th or 19th century, after a newspaper published a poem narrating a dream of a cemetery in the future in which “all of us are dead”, and “reading” tombstones.

Newspapers often publish calaveras of public figures, with cartoons of skeletons in the style of the famous calaveras of José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican artist. Posada created a famous illustration of a figure he called La Calavera de la Catrina (“skull of the rich woman”) as a parody of a Mexican upper-class female. Posada’s image of a costumed female with a skeleton face has become an iconic symbol associated with of the Day of the Dead, and Catrina figures often are a prominent part of modern Day of the Dead observances.

For more information about Dia de Los Muertos guests can visit the Smithsonian Latino Center’s  virtual Day of the Dead Theatre

According to archeological studies in ancient Mayan cities throughout Mexico and Central America, the Mayan calendar has three main counts or forms: The Lunar or Feminine Count (Tun’Uc), which represents the cycles of moon, the Tzokiln, recording the cycles of the sun, and the Long Count (Cuenta Larga), representing the cycles of the major planets in earth’s solar system. Many archeologists suggest that the Mayans believed that each Long Count could bring significant change and rebirth to their communities.

Mayan astronomers calculated this Long Count calendar and cycle, which has been supported by modern astronomical studies, with the most basic tools. They recorded these calendars in pictograms, etched in stone, that we, as modern visitors, continue to view today in the Mayan archeological preserves of Xcalacoco, Kohunlich, Coba, Chichen Itza, and Tikal.

The Mayan Long Count will end on December 21st, 2012, when all of the major planets in earth’s orbit will align in a cycle that only occurs every 26,000 years. Most modern investigators, and many modern Mayans, believe that the planets will then begin a new 26,000-year revolution or “Long Count” — a new cycle.

In keeping with our underlying mission and model of offering unique environmentally and culturally sustainable programs, Sandos Caracol Eco-Resort and Spawill present a series of Mayan ceremonies and cultural events created to mark the end of the Mayan Long Count.

On December 21-22, 2012 in Xcalacoco, we invite guests to celebrate a transition to the beginning of what we, and many Mayan leaders and scholars, hope will evolve into a new era of environmental sustainability and cultural consciousness, rooted in ancient Mayan beliefs and practices.

Sandos Caracol will present several events in honor of the Mayan traditions and communities that have, for centuries, existed on the indigenous Mayan land of Xcalacoco, located a side of Sandos Caracol Eco Resort & Spa property:

• A documentary video about Mayan culture in our theater and on television monitors throughout the property
• A reproduction of a traditional Mayan Village on our main beach
• A series of Mayan ceremonies written and performed by local artists and community members
• Traditional Mayan arts and crafts produced and presented by local artisans
• Temazcal ceremonies (extra fee)
• An academic presentation on Mayan culture and the Mayan calendars
• Photo exhibition on Mayan Culture

During the months of September and October guests at Sandos Caracol Eco Resport and Spa will have an opportunity to witness the peak time in the reproductive cycle of mangrove crabs.

These large, land-dwelling crabs live in and among mangroves, and they have a variety of significant ecological roles. They maintain the energy chain in mangrove areas by burying and consuming vegetative debris, and they contribute to the airation and health of the ground by burrowing their large holes in the earth and mud.

Mangrove crab eggs, which they lay on the edges of the water, provide a key food source for young fish.  Mangrove crabs, themselves, are also a key source of food for threatened birds, such as the Crab Plover.

Removing these crabs from an area has been shown to cause increases in chemicals such as sulfides and ammonium which negativly impacts the overall health and productivity of the mangrove forest.

Visitors to Sandos Caracol can learn more about the important role of these crabs by reviewing some of the following resources:

Smithsonian Marine Station

Network of Aqauculture Centers

Mud Crab Aquculture