St. John's Day

Also called the Baptist or John the Baptist, this saint is considered a precursor of Jesus in various branches of Christianity and is also venerated in Islam as a prophet. He plays a very important role in the New Testament, since the four evangelists speak of him as the one who announces the arrival of the Messiah.

The curious thing is that, according to the Gospel, nothing in the prophet's life was related to this night. However, both celebrations were intermingled when St. John the Baptist was born 6 months before Jesus, so on the night of the bonfires, June 24, his birth is celebrated.

The famous night of St. John, where jumping bonfires on the seashore becomes a ritual of purification and wish-fulfillment, comes from the Christianization of the pagan festival celebrated in honor of the sun at the summer solstice. In the northern hemisphere, daylight hours begin to decrease from this time, and therefore it was common to light bonfires and light lamps to give more strength to the sun. The reason why it is currently celebrated on the 24th is because Christianity adapted the pagan tradition to its calendar, to take it to the birth of St. John the Baptist.