Festas juninas were brought to Brazil by Portuguese and
Spanish settlers celebrating the harvest and their favorite
saints. The cool June weather calls for bonfires, lots of dancing, rich food and alcohol

June is a lively month in Brazil. If you live here or are passing by you will be invited to a festa junina, where you will eat Brazilian sweets and drink quentão, a warm drink made with pinga or vinho quente, a warm spicy wine. Children dress up like country bumpkins, play typical games and win prizes.

One of the highlights of a festa junina is a quadrilha, which is a type of square dance with sometimes over twenty participants. A “couple” getting married leads the other couples in the quadrilha. Their wedding ceremony is only one part of a complex dance. The groom always runs away and is often brought back by an angry father of the bride. It is quite a spectacle. Sometimes, the participants even switch roles, the girls dressed up as boys and the boys as girls. This makes the quadrilha even funnier. The cool June weather calls for bonfires. Colorful flags are strung up and paper hot-air balloons are released into the sky. The fun continues on into the night.

Where did this idea come from? Why is it a part of Brazilian culture? Portuguese and Spanish settlers celebrating the harvest and worshipping saints brought these parties to Brazil.

Although it has become a commercialized party, the traditional festa junina is still celebrated in the Northeast and in rural communities, where Catholic people commemorate their favorite saints. These saints’ statues are hoisted onto shoulders and paraded through town on their special day. Three saints are commemorated in June: Santo Antônio de Pádua (Saint Anthony), the patron saint of weddings (13/06); São João Batista (Saint John), the saint who is a model for a perfect life (24/06); and São Pedro (Saint Peter), who guards the pearly gates of heaven (29/06).

During these June parties, it has been customary for couples to take advantage of the festivities to get married. The festa juninayou might attend here in São Paulo (or in any other urban area) is a reenactment that does not necessarily include religion and is just for fun. Schools, clubs and churches host these parties.

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