The verbena of Sant Joan
The Verbena of Sant Joan, also popularly known as the Night of Fire or the Night of the Witches, or Night of Ros, is a celebration that takes place across the Catalan Countries and beyond, during the night between 23 and 24 June, one of the shortest of the year due to the proximity of the summer solstice. It is not clear the origin of this celebration. Some see an earlier pagan origins of Christianity. A kind of reminiscent of the holidays for the summer solstice. Instead, there you see a mock home and happy in the fact that the night is more distant to Christmas and therefore should be the most cursed and loved by the devil.
On this night, for dinner, it is common to family gatherings or going to a festival with tables set up next to a bonfire. Then they eat all kinds of kink. The most common is the coca de Sant Joan de pa de Pessic (something like light sponge cake) and candied fruit, but also make recapte (roasted vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, onions and eggplant), pork rinds, pine and other many types. Previously, the kinks for this event were round with an eye in the middle, which could be related to some kind of ancient ritual site. Today, the standard size tends to be canonical, so it makes it twice as long as broad. It is also traditional to drink wine or champagne.
Has always been associated with acclimated traditions around the fire. It is common belief that the flames and frighten away the imaginary beings that only campaigns during the night or if they also roam throughout the rest of the year, this day makes it more intensely and in more number.
We have collected the eighteenth century laws to curb watching the games on people with fireworks that night, but to no avail. During Franco's regime tried to end the pagan festival and improper considering the Christian people, but everywhere you went you could secretly without braking.
Foto: Surachit
I tothom throw petards!
…neither the coca!
Foto: Espencat
A good fire on the night of Sant Joan, can not miss…
Foto: Espencat
