The Bonfires of San Juan – Spanish Festival Meets Summer Solstice

The tradition of the day of San Juan is that at midnight (when the day officially starts), you jump over your bonfire, representing leaving behind things of the past year that you don’t want to carry on (maybe that’s in case you catch on fire!). Then for extra measure and good health throughout the next year, you run and jump into the sea. Some people like to burn things in their fire as well, to purge negative energy from their lives. Or something like that.

Another variation of these traditions among the locals is that they write down on a piece of paper the things they want to happen in their lives for the next year. Then they stand at the water’s edge on the beach, tear up the paper and toss it into the sea, and then finish by jumping over the waves twelve times. We’re not entirely sure what order that all goes in, but that’s the gift of it. And this can be done at midnight or the next day, on the actual day of San Juan.

We personally love the representations of the cleansing of fire and water, the two popularly referenced Earth elements that have been valued since ancient civilizations. We wonder if this is still carried on in Spain from the Moorish influence of when the Moors inhabited the Iberian Peninsula. Have you heard of the tradition in other cultures?

In Xábia (spelled Javea in Castellano) and some other small towns along the coast here, some people bring out their old furniture as fuel for their bonfires. We haven’t seen them do that in Denia but who knows what one may see at each year’s festival. Other items that are commonly part of the party here in Denia are small bbq’s for cooking on, unless people feel like using their bonfire, which people do too. Gotta have great food and drink as part of the celebrations!

We’ve been hearing that in Javea, the town on the other side of Montgo from us, they make a much bigger deal about San Juan. They start celebrating a week or two before the actual day, with loud cannons shot off each day, brass bands playing music in the streets late at night and even early in the mornings, and large Falla-like figures made of paper maché that are paraded through town and later burned.

In the larger city of Alicante, even further south of us, this festival is way bigger. They do elaborate parades with Spanish Stallions, deck out their streets with lights and banners, and have fireworks and plenty of noise and music every day for the week or two in advance. It’s one of their biggest festivals of the year.

READ MORE: Our Top 7 Reasons for Living in Denia, Spain as Expats

It’s probably not a big surprise that this festival is based on a religious holiday and Saint’s Day. Go figure – that’s pretty much where the countless holidays in Spain come from. But going even further back, many of them originate from ancient pagan rituals. That’s the case with the bonfires of San Juan also celebrating the Summer Solstice which takes place on the 21st of June.

San Juan, or Saint John the Baptist, is the patron saint of many of the towns here in the Costa Blanca. So there are also special masses at the end of the week-long celebrations. In the parades that towns have, you’ll also see how this festival still carries it’s predominantly religious affiliation.

What holidays/festivals have you experienced in Spain? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.