Brazil’s festival season combining June saints’ days with bonfires, square dancing and corn-based foods is Festa Junina.
Festa Junina is held throughout Brazil during June and is associated especially with Saint Anthony, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Peter. Portuguese colonial traditions blended with regional Brazilian customs to create a celebration that is both religious and social.
Typical events include bonfires, fireworks, rustic decorations, communal dancing and quadrilha, a theatrical square dance inspired partly by European country-dance traditions. Popular foods often use corn, peanuts, coconut and cassava, reflecting the season’s agricultural associations.
Although its name means “June festival,” Festa Junina can continue into July in some Brazilian communities. It is therefore not a single evening, and its regional forms vary considerably from one part of Brazil to another.