San Juan safely over
The longest day of the year has come and gone and so too have the bonfires that are used to celebrate the San Juan festivities in many parts of Spain. On the evening of the 23rd it’s traditional to take to the beaches (if you have one locally of course) and prepare to watch the sun rise. Some people go to great lengths to mark the occasion setting out their dining tables, chairs and cutlery for the long night ahead.
The tradition goes that you build your bonfire and jump over the flames to purge yourself of the bad things of the past and then you bathe in the sea. It’s an evening that is surprising perhaps in its relative level of safety and harmony and certainly the dip in the sea is very welcome.
Some neighbourhoods have their own celebrations and might have their own effigy to burn in the spirit of Las Fallas in Valencia. Alicante is well-known for its evening of celeberation, with many young people continuing onto the beach until the morning.
In Alicante you can get a sense of the popularity of the event and the elaborate nature of the effigies from the pictures and information on this site:
hogueras.com
In Torrevieja, the Molinos del Calvario neighbourhood celebrates in style with their own ‘cremá’ event:
CREMÁ HOGUERA MOLINOS DEL CALVARIO 2O17
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