Datos de Museos de Gran Canaria

The Museo de la Rama (Branch Museum) celebration represents the main event within the fiestas of Our Lady of Las Nieves Festivity in the town of Agaete. A celebration that over the years has become one of the largest events in the Canarian summer calendar. This is not just another festivity, for it has great symbolic meaning to all Grancanarians. It is just that meaning along with its historical and traditional features that led the authorities to declare it of National Tourist Interest in 1972.

The Museo de la Rama is a space where visitors can witness, understand, and enjoy the essence of the celebration. The different elements used for this special occasion are displayed here, from papagüevos to other ornamentations such as lamps, branches, etc.

The museum is located in a recently-reconditioned building that is complemented with gardens. and features six different exhibition spaces, namely:

Space 1: Introduction to and contextualization of the festivity with relation to Our Lady of Las Nieves.
Space 2: Evolution and historical context of Agaete.
Space 3: The keys to the festivity: the music, the papagüevos, the branch as vegetal, and the myth of the aborigine ritual.
Space 4: The street celebrations: the branch, the lamps, the diehard attendees, the fair traders...
Space 5: The big day: the raising of the Virgin, the gathering, the arrival, the fireworks, the procession, the street decorations, the gunpowder, the dancing and celebrations, the children?s games...
Space 6: La Rama del Valle (the Valley Branch): the farewell, the trail up the pine tree forest, the cutting of the branch, the carrying of the branch along the streets, the procession...

The Museo de la Rama is the first museum devoted to a festivity in the Canary Islands. With the contemplated expansion of the adjacent building, it aims at becoming a regional exponent for the study and understanding of the rich variety of festivities within the Canary Islands and their cultural and social significance.