La noche de San Joan

The night of San Joan by far is one of my favorite nights in Barcelona.

 

One thing I never tire of living in Spain is that there is always something to celebrate… there is always some sort of holidays, celebrations, parties and happiness. And it’s great. It makes living in this great country even greater.

 

San Joan is the 24th of June, a huge holiday… everything is closed… but it seems as the only thing people do on the 24th is recover from the night before. All of the celebrating is done the night of the 23rd from sundown to sunrise. It is exhausting but amazing all the same.

 

San Joan is basically a holiday celebrating the Summer Solstice (the shortest night of the year), but what it really is, is a whole city party celebrating the beginning of summer.

The idea is that on the night of Sant Joan the sun reaches its highest point, before beginning to drop.The sun is seen as a symbol of fertility and wealth and so it must be given strength. The strength is provided by bonfires and fireworks lit throughout the city for Sant Joan.

 

Tons of fireworks, people cheering and dancing, drinking … it was all there and a lot of it. (and non stop) .. .You saw people of all ages, from small children to grandparents, dancing, celebrating, setting of fireworks and just so happy all through the night. It seemed as every corner of Barcelona was filled with people, celebrating, laughing, dancing, partying. It made me love Barcelona even more than I already do (how is that possible??)

It’s like the Fourth of July and New Years Eve, but even more to fit the Spanish lifestyle, even crazier. 

To Catalans this night is known as “Nit del Foc” which literally translates to night of fire, explaining the large amounts of fireworks that last all through the night.

The most popular place to be is at the beach in Barceloneta; families and friends are camped out there with food and drinks galore, bars are blasting music, and , of course, there are bonfires and fireworks everywhere.

So of course that’s where I went with some friends. We were there for more than 7 hours, and wow was it incredible. All night, non-stop there were fireworks everywhere. It was exhilarating , scary and incredible. There were djs spread out all over the beach and everyone was happy, dancing and just enjoying life.

Definitely this was one of my top memories in Barcelona. There was so much positive energy and happiness in the air. It was absolutely incredible.  I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed myself.

It’s nights like this that make me fall in love with this city all over again. But also nights like this make it even harder to say goodbye to this city. With my move from Barcelona approaching quickly I’m trying to do all I can yo enough this city. But the more I do, the less I want to say goodbye to this wonderful city.

 

 

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