Sant Joan Festival

The eve of Sant Joan (aka Sant Juan/St. John, depending where you come from) is undoubtedly the biggest party night of the year in Spain’s fiesta-filled diary. This midsummer celebration is famed for it’s endless fireworks and total disregard to EU safety regulations. As the 24th is a public holiday all and sundry take the opportunity to overindulge in cerveza and everyone except granny will still be partying come sunrise. The beach is the place to be for this one.

The festival of San Juan is a celebration that is celebrated throughout the country with very different forms. In Barcelona, ​​it is a popular celebration that everyone lives in their own way, with neighborhood meetings, family or friends to dine, play music and light bonfires.

The origin of the celebration of the night of Sant Joan is pagan and is part of the group of solstitial parties, such as Christmas. With a tradition that goes back a long way before the implantation of Christianity, it is a cult to the sun, to the lengthening of the day, to the arrival of the summer solstice.

The party of the night of San Juan in the city of Barcelona is very old, especially with the central presence of the bonfires, because it is a common belief that the  flames  away and frighten the evil spirits that walk during this night. In fact, in the 18th century, laws were already enacted that sought to put a stop to fireworks and bonfires inside the city, which suggests that the tradition was already well established. But the party has remained until today despite the prohibitions and restrictions during the twentieth century.