Reservations for Cerro Verde Mirador
Santa Elena, “full of flowers,” is a district directly influenced by the eastern part of the city of Medellín and the highlands of eastern Antioquia. It is known for promoting the cultural preservation of ancestral practices in the Aburrá and San Nicolás valleys, particularly through its tradition of cultivating ornamental plants and aromatic species for use in the silletera craft.
This process began when the silleteros stopped carrying people on their backs and started transporting flowers and aromatic plants to sell in the city of Medellín.
Just as flowers remain in the memories of the elderly, so too have the recipes of our grandmothers and their aromatic plants been preserved—recipes that not only enriched the cuisine of Medellín but also provided relief for a wide range of health ailments.
Currently, despite the significant impact on the village surrounding the Flower Fair, where the Silleteros parade is the central event of these popular festivities in the capital of Antioquia, the agricultural practices that sustain the cultivation of the flowers used to build the silletas have declined.
This implies, first, that the silleteros are forced to rely on industrial crops to supply the parade; and second, the concerning decline in the diversity of species used in the silletas. Many of these species, which were cultivated in the early days of the parade, are no longer found in the traditional crops of rural families in Santa Elena due to various cultural and social reasons.
This issue compounds the complex territorial dynamics, which give rise to new proposals for land use and development; the disconnection of younger generations from agricultural culture and practices; as well as the threat to a tradition that comes to life at the Flower Fair.