The Fiesta de San Juan is celebrated all over Spain, and takes place on the shortest nights of the year between the 21st and 24th of June. The fiesta is to welcome the summer and is celebrated with bonfires, music, dancing, and street parties. Different cities of Spain have different variants to the fiesta, although they are all celebrating the summer and the short nights with light triumphing over darkness.

Sun, water and fire play the leading roles in the San Juan Fiesta. Bonfires are prepared in the afternoons and light up the cities by night. According to tradition, people who jump over a bonfire three times on San Juan night will be cleansed. All their problems will be ‘burned’ away by the bonfire, and their future will be bright. Another tradition is for the women of Spain to prepare perfumed water out of seven different plants, including Laurel, Rosemary and Roses. Washing their faces in this water will cleanse them for the start of a new season.

In towns and cities along the coastline of Spain, the Fiesta de San Juan is very important. Bonfires are lit all along the beaches, and can be seen for miles in the distance. As the clock strikes midnight, it is tradition for people to jump into the sea, where the evil spirits will be washed away and bathers will be granted eternal beauty.

In Alicante, thousands of people join in to celebrate the arrival of summer, with hundreds of bonfires to pay homage to fire. Traditionally, people would meet on the 23rd of June for a festive dinner, light bonfires and dance around them before going for a swim in the sea. This custom endured over many years, and in 1928 the Fiesta de San Juan was formally constituted. In Valencia, hundreds of cardboard statues and monuments are made prior to the fiesta, and set alight on the night of San Juan. The cardboard statues are made weeks prior to the fiesta, and are judged by the people for its creativity and style.

On the night of the San Juan fiesta, the statues are burned in a colourful display of fireworks, and music that light up the night. The best cardboard statue is saved from its fate and stored in the Fallero Museum. Alicante pays homage to fire in a similar way with great works of cardboard figures going up in flames on the night of the San Juan fiesta.
The Fiesta de San Juan is an important festival for the people of Spain, and is a colourful and celebratory occasion. Many cities offer dance shows, firework competitions, and feasts for the people to enjoy.

Large tents, fairgrounds, and parades are also an integral part of the Fiesta de San Juan in Spain, with many activities and shows on offer. This is a very busy week in Spain with thousands of people flocking over from all over the world to join in with this vivid and vibrant occasion.