Her devotion is deeply rooted in other parts of Spain, and in countries such as Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and others.

This has made the Virgin of Candelaria the second most widespread Marian devotion on the American continent, after the Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico.

[4][5] According to a legend recorded by Alonso de Espinosa in 1594, a statue of the Virgin Mary, bearing a child in one hand and a green candle in the other (hence "Candelaria"), was discovered on the beach of Chimisay (Güímar) by two Guanche goatherds in 1392.

Later, Antón, a Guanche who had been enslaved and converted to Christianity by the Castilians, returned to Tenerife and recognized the statue as that of the Virgin Mary.

He told the mencey of his conversion and the statue was thus venerated by the Guanches, who moved it to the cave of Achbinico (also known as San Blas – "Saint Blaise").

In the basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth (Israel) is a mosaic of the Virgin of Candelaria, patron saint of the Canary Islands,[11] along with those of other Marian devotions famous in Spain.

These days there are thousands of pilgrims and tourists coming to Candelaria from all points of the Canary Islands and other parts of Spain and the world.

The feast day is marked by a solemn procession and a religious ceremony, although its most famous component is a re-enactment of the discovery of the statue, with locals dressing up as guanche natives.

[13] In addition to that, every seven years the image of the Virgin of Candelaria is transferred to Santa Cruz de Tenerife (capital of the island) and San Cristóbal de La Laguna (seat of the Diocese of Tenerife), alternating every seven years between the two cites: in 2002 it was Santa Cruz and in 2009 La Laguna and so to successively.

These were: There have been numerous theories proposed regarding possible meanings over the years, including that the evangelizing friars of the Canary Islands wrote devotions to the Virgin Mary in the context of the original (Insular-Amazigh) Guanche language, while attempting to transcribe them into Roman letters.

In the Philippines, she is the patroness of Western Visayas and Negros Occidental, and a white version with a child is found in the Jaro Cathedral in Iloilo: it is either of local heavenly origin since its discovery was miraculous being found floating in a river, changing in weight and growing in size or it may be brought by the Spanish immigrants during Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines.

Her feast is celebrated every February 2 with pageantry where the Fiesta queen is chosen from prominent Spanish-Filipino families in the district of Jaro.

The first church of Dilao (now the District of Paco in Manila) was initially dedicated to the Virgen de Candelaria, until its Parish was named to San Fernando.

She was the secondary Patroness of Municipality of Candelaria, Quezon, hence why the locals celebrate their Candle Festival annually in honor of Our Lady during February 2.

She is also the patroness of the Western Visayas region and Tatala, one of the barangays in Binangonan, Rizal (also in the Philippines), which celebrates her feast day every February 2.