Santa Elena
Silletero culture in Medellin
Santa Elena might seem to be only a small, remote village in the mountains, but it holds something very special for Medellin. It is the heart of the silletero culture and is the place where the flowers for the annual flower show and parade are coming from.
The name “silletero” comes from the Spanish word for chair, “silla”, and dates back to pre-Hispanic times. Among the natives in what is today Colombia, it was common practice to carry the elderly or injured people on a chair at the back up and down the mountains. The way this chair was carried was ergonomically optimised with a strap that could be worn from the shoulders to the forehead or held by hand near the shoulders.
Nowadays, the silleteros are no longer carrying other people, but flowers. The system remains the same though and the wooden construction that holds the flowers still looks similar to the original chairs. Charlie herself prepared such a flower display as part of a tour to Santa Elena.
This type of display reflects the first category in the annual flower parade and competition, the traditional flower displays.
Flower show in Medellin
Every year in August, the Feria de las flores takes place in Medellin and it culminates in a parade on the Sunday that looks like a river made of flowers. The participants are competing for prizes that bring them significant amounts of cash in five different categories: traditional, monumental, emblematic, commercial and creative flower displays.
Getting to Santa Elena
Santa Elena is a 45-minute drive from Medellin and is located at one of the highest points of the Andes at 2500m altitude. There are different routes and no matter which one you take, the views are spectacular!
You can get there by public transport by taking the cable car to Parque Arví and a bus from there. Charlie preferred a guided tour though because that included a visit to a silletero farm that would be difficult to arrange by yourself and the farms are spread out over the area around the village of Santa Elena.
