Festa Junina, named after the month of June, is the name of Brazilian celebrations which take place in the beginning of the Brazilian winter (June). These Europe-originated festivities are most associated with Northeastern Brazil, but today they are celebrated throughout the country, on the Catholic feasts of Saint Anthony (June 13th a patron of those trying to find a wife/husband), John the Baptist (24th - according to popular faith, the responsible for a good harvest) and Saint Peter (29th - the guardian of heavens, with control over the clouds and rains).
As the northeast is largely arid or semi-arid, these popular festivals not only coincide with the rainy season but they also provide the people with an opportunity to give thanks to Saint John for the rain. They also celebrate rural life and feature typical clothing, food, street decoration, dance (particularly quadrilha, which is similar to square dancing), etc. The "quadrilha" features couple formations around a mock wedding whose bride and groom are the central attraction of the dancing. Usually taking place in an arraial , a large, open space outdoors, men dress up as farm boys with suspenders and large straw hats and women wear pigtails, freckles, painted gap teeth and red-checkered dresses, all in a loving tribute to the origins of Brazilian country music.
Festas Juninas are as popular as Carnival. It should be noted that, like for Carnival, these festivities involve costume-wearing (in this case, peasant costumes), dancing, drinking, and visual spectacles (fireworks display and folk dancing). Like the original European Midsummer celebrations, during the two-week June festivities in Brazil, bonfires are lit. They can be seen everywhere in Brazil.
For years two Northeastern towns in particular have competed with each other for the title of "Biggest São João Festival in the World", namely Caruaru (in the State of Pernambuco) and Campina Grande (in Paraíba State). In fact, Caruaru features in the Guinness Book of World Records for holding the biggest outdoor country festival. However the States of Bahia and Maranhão (as elsewhere in Brazil) have invested in promoting their own way of celebrating the June Bonfire Festivals. Thus, there are enough options to enjoy it!
As São João coincides with the corn harvest, most of the dishes served during these festivities are made from corn, such as CANJICA (sweet corn mush with coconut milk and cinnamon), CURAU (a pudding made of maize that is usually dressed with cinnamon) and PAMONHA (a paste made from corn and milk, boiled wrapped in corn husk variations may have cheese and/or coconut). PINHÃO, the nut of the Auracaria pine (Araucaria angustifolia), is also very popular during the June festivities - they can be either boiled or roasted. QUENTÃO ("very hot" in Portuguese) is a traditional drink served in the Festas Juninas. Its a tummy-warming hot punch made of red wine, fruits, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, etc - YUMMY!
