Spain celebrates all of its religious festivals with great intensity and Tenerife is no exception. Each year at the end of May and the beginning of June, the streets of Tenerife are decorated to celebrate Corpus Christi, considered the second most important festival on the island and one of the principal ones in Spain. In spite of these nationwide connections, though, the true heart of the festivities beats in La Orotava.

Diving into the labyrinth of cobblestone streets in La Orotava is a real adventure, above all during Corpus Christi. The scent of flowers saturates the air and serves as a guide, indicating the road toward the historical centre and the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. When you arrive there, you will not believe your eyes: the intense colours of thousands of flowers combine to create very lifelike figures based on biblical scenes. These are the emblematic carpets of La Orotava.

This tradition originated in the middle of the 19th century, when members of the Monteverde family made a flower carpet in front of their house in order to honour the passing procession. The idea is credited to Leonor del Castillo, who surely never imagined that this small seed would plant such strong roots in the community.

The flower carpets are created through a mix of talent and perseverance, and require several months of preparation. Everything starts with the selection of the theme and the design, a process that is not always free of deliberation and dispute. Large panels are raised in front of where the carpets will be located, since in this way their secrets remain hidden from curious eyes.

On the morning of the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, the panels are taken down and the carpet-makers start working frantically to finish their artwork before the procession passes. By that point, the women of Tenerife will already have been working for three days to collect petals from the thousands of flowers that will become small pieces of this great puzzle.

Dozens of carpets are made to celebrate Corpus Christi, but the most spectacular one is located in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. This is made of sand and earth from Teide and it made the Guinness Book of World Records in 2007 as the largest sand painting in the world. The design covers every inch of the square and an entire month is needed to create it.

Fiona Roy writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.