The Virgin of Candelaria is the patroness of the Canary Islands. The story of Candelaria is integral to the Christian conversion of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands, the Guanche. The legend is that a statue of a woman bearing a child in one hand and a large green candle in the other was discovered on the beach in Tenerife by two Guanche goatherds in 1392, nearly one hundred years before the Spanish conquered the islands. This statue was later recognized as Mary by a Guanche man returning home from Spain who had converted to Christianity. The green candle gave the statue the name Candelaria and the image came to be associated with the feast of the presentation, which is a celebration of Jesus as the light of the world. The statue had many miraculous events attributed to it, was stolen and recovered numerous times until finally being lost for good. Her feast days are February 2 (Candlemas) and August 15 (the Assumption).

Her image was exported to the Americas by immigrants from the Canary Islands who traveled along with Spanish colonization. In places where Yoruba religion survived among enslaved Africans, her image was syncretized with Oyá, the Orisha of storms and change.