Santa María de Guía has an extensive and varied ethnographic heritage, a richness that can be recognized not only scattered throughout the landscape, but also in many of the traditions that are still preserved in the municipality.

Agricultural landscape

At the beginning, a walk through the midlands and peaks of Guía introduces us to a traditional agricultural landscape, which brings together not only the special orographic characteristics of the north of Gran Canaria, but also its productive pastures, the existence of chains, terraces, agricultural farms, where It still highlights the traditional rural architecture, and many associated infrastructures such as majanos,eras or alpendres. There are also mills, bread, ovens, haystacks, washing places, ponds, ditches,... elements that signify the life of a not so distant past in time.

On the coast, cultivation changes the physiognomy of the landscape. Here the predominance of export agriculture such as bananas, introduced at the end of the 19th century, shaped the territory and today allows us to still observe constructions associated with these crops, such as hydraulic infrastructures; wells and galleries, ditches, corners, aqueducts, ponds or dams. An element to highlight is the very design of the terraces and enclosure of the farms, authentic works that show the skill and ingenuity of the farmer in the face of the use of the soil.

Transhumance

This pastoral tradition, which has its origin in the pre-Hispanic past and has left its mark on the territory, is still deeply rooted in Guía. Sheep herders, who still practise shearing, and who move their cattle from the northern lands in search of "vueltas" (pastures), some only moving along the north side of the island, others between the midlands and the coast at the beginning of winter, always in search of the first sprout of grasses, or moving them to the summit in summer. A whole intricate network of roads and ravines associated with this activity can practically be guessed scattered throughout space, all of them on a Northwest-Southwest axis.