The arrival of Summer is celebrated with Fire Festivities on St. John’s holiday in many places throughout Spain but they are especially famous on the Mediterranean coast. It is a festivity with an ancient origin which combines magic rituals with fire, gunpowder, water and music.
The program of the official acts of Les Fogueres de San Joan 2018 begins on June 1 with the inauguration of the artistic lighting and the proclamation from the balcony of the City Hall. The first mascletàs (out of competition) will shoot on June 2 and 3.
Each year, the festivities program has a rich variety of events including sports activities, street parades, musical performances, concerts and flower offerings. There are events for all ages and tastes. The running of the bulls and the correfocs (firecrackers parade) as well as the huge traditional fireworks display called the Nit dels Focs. The festivities conclude on the night of the 24th with the burning of the Hoguera monument and a spectacular music and fireworks display.
The festivities will officially begin on June 20 with the plantà, or building of enormous bonfires with their cardboard figures which fill the streets of Alicante with wit and good humour. The barracas or large tents will also put up to serve as a public dance floor, and where people can sample the typical figs and cocas pastry with tuna, onions and pine nuts.
As every year, festivities will include the Entry of the Bands and Committees, with their Beauties of Fire and their ladies-in-waiting wearing traditional dresses; the floral offering to the patron saint of the city, the Virgin of El Remedio on June 21 and 22; and the international folklore parade, a spectacular procession featuring dance troupes from all over the world. In addition, there will be daily firework displays. And finally at midnight on June 24 the cremà (burning), the high point of the fiestas, will take place. After a spectacular white palm tree of fireworks, the bonfires all over the city are set alight and blaze away.
Cover image via Alicante Turismo