'Canary healers. Healing Traditions' will be screened next Monday, August 4, at 7:00 p.m. in the Assembly Hall of the Alajeró City Council
After the screening, a discussion is scheduled with the participation of the director, Beatriz Chinea, and invited healers.
The documentary 'Canary Curanderas. Healing Traditions', financed by the General Directorate of Culture and Cultural Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands, will be screened next Monday, August 4, at 7:00 p.m. in the Assembly Hall of the Alajeró City Council with free entry until capacity is reached. It is a film, directed and produced by Beatriz Chinea, that rescues the memory of healers, santiguadoras, herbalists and midwives as part of the intangible heritage of the islands.
The event, organized in collaboration with the Cabildo of La Gomera and the Alajeró City Council, is planned as an informative day with a discussion open to the public after the screening. Some people linked to this tradition will participate, along with the director of the documentary, under the moderation of journalist José Gregorio González.
In this way, the aim is to create a space to share the living memory of the Canary Islands through the experience of the people who have preserved and transmitted the knowledge of traditional healing on the island of La Gomera.
In addition, the event will be attended by Rosa Elena García, island councilor of the Area of Social Services, Education, Culture and Sports, and Elena Ramos, councilor of Education and Culture of the Alajeró City Council, within the framework of the programming of the El Salvador Festivities.
audiovisual archive
'Canary healers. Healing Traditions' is the final result of an audiovisual archiving project promoted by the Government of the Canary Islands to visually document the testimonies, stories, knowledge and, above all, the rituals linked to traditional healing on the islands.
This research seeks to preserve the oral tradition of an ancestral custom that, although still alive in some parts of the archipelago thanks to older women, is at risk of disappearance.
The documentary collects a dozen direct testimonies from healers, santiguadoras, herbalists and midwives who carry out practices such as crossing, the use of medicinal plants or the laying on of hands to treat ailments such as the evil eye, shingles or empacho.
It should be noted that the film, with a duration of approximately 30 minutes, has been selected for international festivals such as the IFFNY in New York and the Ahmedabad International Film Festival in India during this year 2025.
This event in Alajeró represents a unique opportunity to learn first-hand all the details of healing: how they practice healing, from whom they have inherited the knowledge, how ailments are cured and all the relevant knowledge that has been transmitted from generation to generation.
