SARDINE BURIED WITH FULL HONOURS AS PGO SAWFISH SWIMS ON

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Friday February 19 2010

CHICHARREROS filled the streets of Santa Cruz on Friday for the funeral of a giant sardine.

by JAMES TWEEDIE

The baroque funeral cortège of the deceased 10-foot long oily fish wound its way through the narrow streets of the regional capital, accompanied by a phalanx of priests and hordes of lady mourners – most of them men.

One of the more unusual events of carnival calendar, the Sardine's Funeral symbolises the death of the past and the birth of the future.

The sardine has special significance in Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz. Residents bear the derogatory moniker of chicharrero from the time when the town was home to poor fishing folk, who could only afford to eat the worst of their catch – a small species of sardine called a chicharro.

In keeping with the spirit of irreverent political satire which pervades carnival, this year's funeral was turned into an impromptu protest against Santa Cruz council's controversial PGO by-law, which has place the upper floors of 30 per cent of the city's buildings 'fuera de ordenacíon' or outside of planning permission.

Campaigners call the PGO “illegal, irrational, illogical, corrupt and speculative,” alleging that it only benefits property developers close to the mayor and councillors.

The PGO was represented by a paper saw-fish. Leaflets depicted the 'Pejo-O' sawing the top off an apartment building, along with leading proponents of the scheme caricatured as insultingly-named species of fish.

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