FOGUEIRAS DE SAN XOÁN

Tourist Interest
2672
On the Way of St. James
Dates of celebration: 23/06 - 23/06

Location

A Coruña - A Coruña

Coordinates:
43º 22' 06.9" N - 8º 24' 42.0" W

Description

If there is one place where the Night of San Xoán is enthusiastically experienced, it is A Coruña, where the shortest night of the year is preceded by a whole week of events and preparations. In the morning the party is announced with a parade of bands and floats of meigas (witches) so that the burning of the bonfire becomes once again a magical and incomparable moment in the calendar year.
The smell of grilled sardines and fire wafts through the city on the night of 23 June as bonfires are lit in many places. Many people take part in this ancestral worship of fire to celebrate the onset of summer and make wishes by jumping over the flames. But the most popular bonfire is the one erected on Riazor beach, with the figure of a papier-mâché witch, around which political and social events of the year are satirised before being set on fire.
The Meiga Maior, the Children's Meiga Maior and their respective Meigas of honour, who are in charge of lighting the bonfire, arrive in procession, in a spectacle that crowds the beaches of Riazor and Orzán, which in turn are dotted with small bonfires of spontaneous young people, while some people comply with the purifying rite of the bath of the nine waves, an ancient tradition for those women seeking to get pregnant.
On a night like this, full of ritual elements, the party continues in the open air or in the bars found along the beachfront until dawn.

Not to be missed:
The Riazor bonfire is lit at midnight by the Maior and Children’s Meigas.

The Ways of St. James

The English Camino

Further features

Folkloric
Festivities Tourist Interest Festivals of International Tourist Interest
Arriba
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