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SAN JUAN HOLIDAYS
The festival of San Juan is renowned in many places, but especially in our homeland: Galicia.
For those less familiar with this holiday, here are the keys to its popularity and tips for warding off evil spirits.
- The night of June 23rd to 24th is the most magical night of the year (noite meiga), steeped in tradition and superstition.
- It officially welcomes summer (the solstice festival).
- It is the shortest night of the year (which is why the festival never ends before sunrise).
- People gather around a bonfire, preferably on the beach. The fire, in addition to serving as a place to cook sardines, barbecue, and other foods, also scares away evil spirits.
- To complete the ritual, purify oneself, and rid oneself of all evil, one must jump over the bonfire between 3 and 9 times (depending on the area and the degree of purification needed by the individual).
- The same concept is used in the queimada ritual: a concoction of aguardiente, sugar, coffee beans, and fruit peels, which is set on fire and stirred with a ladle in a large clay pot while reciting the conjure (no evil eye can resist it).
- Another protection ritual involves swimming backward into the ocean (be careful with this one, as it depends a lot on the beach, because the Atlantic... in addition to being rough, is cool).
- Also, don't confuse it with the fertility ritual, which involves jumping nine waves under the moonlight on this night. (If you overdid it with the queimada, you might get a two-for-one with the previous ritual.)
- To finish and be completely cleansed, protected, and purified: St. John's wort. Tradition dictates that a bouquet combining the following plants—mallow, rosemary, fern, fennel, lemon verbena, xesta, and St. John's wort—should be left to soak in a bucket of water, outdoors, overnight. The next day, wash your face with this water and let it dry in the sun.
For those less familiar with this holiday, here are the keys to its popularity and tips for warding off evil spirits.
- The night of June 23rd to 24th is the most magical night of the year (noite meiga), steeped in tradition and superstition.
- It officially welcomes summer (the solstice festival).
- It is the shortest night of the year (which is why the festival never ends before sunrise).
- People gather around a bonfire, preferably on the beach. The fire, in addition to serving as a place to cook sardines, barbecue, and other foods, also scares away evil spirits.
- To complete the ritual, purify oneself, and rid oneself of all evil, one must jump over the bonfire between 3 and 9 times (depending on the area and the degree of purification needed by the individual).
- The same concept is used in the queimada ritual: a concoction of aguardiente, sugar, coffee beans, and fruit peels, which is set on fire and stirred with a ladle in a large clay pot while reciting the conjure (no evil eye can resist it).
- Another protection ritual involves swimming backward into the ocean (be careful with this one, as it depends a lot on the beach, because the Atlantic... in addition to being rough, is cool).
- Also, don't confuse it with the fertility ritual, which involves jumping nine waves under the moonlight on this night. (If you overdid it with the queimada, you might get a two-for-one with the previous ritual.)
- To finish and be completely cleansed, protected, and purified: St. John's wort. Tradition dictates that a bouquet combining the following plants—mallow, rosemary, fern, fennel, lemon verbena, xesta, and St. John's wort—should be left to soak in a bucket of water, outdoors, overnight. The next day, wash your face with this water and let it dry in the sun.