Which French celebration on June 24th involves bonfires and is named after Saint John?

The French celebration on June 24 involving bonfires and named after Saint John is the Fête de la Saint-Jean.

It honors the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, whose feast day is June 24. The evening before, June 23, is Saint John’s Eve, and many celebrations begin at sunset. The date became linked with midsummer because June 24 once fell close to the summer solstice in the Roman calendar.

Bonfires, known in French as feux de la Saint-Jean, are the best-known traditional feature. They likely absorbed older midsummer fire customs while being given a Christian meaning. In some French regions, communities traditionally built very large communal fires, including structures called chavandes in parts of the northeast.

A common mix-up is Bastille Day, France’s national holiday on July 14. The Fête de la Saint-Jean is a religious and folk celebration, and it is less widely observed in modern France than it once was.