is a festival during
Midsummer
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest Daytime, day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of Eu ...
, on the night of 23 June (
Saint John's Eve
Saint John's Eve, starting at sunset on 23 June, is the eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, feast day of Saint John the Baptist. This is one of the very few feast days marking a saint's birth, rather than their death. The Gospel of Luke ...
), in the city of
Porto
Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...
, in the north of Portugal, as thousands of people come to the city centre and more traditional neighborhoods to pay a tribute to
Saint John the Baptist
John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...
, in a party that mixes sacred and profane traditions.
History
Festivities have been held in the city for more than six centuries. During the 19th century Saint John's day became the city's most important festival.
Description
The party starts early in the afternoon of 23 June and usually lasts until the morning of 24 June.
A tradition with roots in pagan courtship rituals is for people to hit each other either with garlic flowers or soft plastic hammers.
Traditional attractions of the night include street concerts, dancing parties, bonfire jumping, eating barbecued sardines,
Caldo verde
''Caldo verde'' (, Portuguese language, Portuguese for "green broth") is a popular soup in Portuguese cuisine.
The basic traditional ingredients for ''caldo verde'' are Julienning, julienned collard greens or ''couve-galega'' (essentially a t ...
and meat, drinking wine and releasing illuminated flame-propelled balloons over Porto's summer sky.
At midnight, partygoers make a short break to look at the sky at Saint John's
firework
Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...
spectacle, which now includes multimedia shows. The party has Christian roots but is also mixed with pagan traditions, with the fireworks embodying the spirit of tribute to the sun.
The fireworks mark the end of the official festivities. It is common for citizens of Porto to keep celebrating until the first hours in the morning. They walk from Porto's riverside core – Ribeira (for instance the parish of
São Nicolau) up to the seaside in Foz (parishes of
Foz do Douro
Foz do Douro (; meaning "Mouth of the Douro") is a former civil parish in the municipality of Porto, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Aldoar, Foz do Douro e Nevogilde. The population in 2011 was 10,997, in an area of 1.88& ...
and
Nevogilde) or in the nearby suburb of
Matosinhos
Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...
where they wait for the sunrise near the sea, and sometimes, take a bath in the ocean.
In June 2004, a journalist from
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
commented that "Porto's is one of Europe's liveliest street festivals, yet it is relatively unknown outside the country".
The Guardian, 12 June 2004, "There's only one São João"
/ref>
See also
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Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Festa De Sao Joao
Saint John's Day
Patronal festivals in Portugal
Events in Porto
Summer in Portugal