Ah Spain!

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[Music]
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Welcome to Aspain Poco Poco. Hi Tanya.
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Hi. Buenos das. Your espanol is mu
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bueno. Bueno. Thank you. Today we're
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going to talk about um the no de San
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Juan which is a festival here in
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Valencia. And I just want to say just in
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case you hadn't had enough fire in Fias,
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we have more.
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We have more.
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They love to burn things in Valencia. I
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feel like, you know, we do laugh. We've
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said this before that the city gets the
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greenest city of Europe award like time
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and time again. And we are wondering how
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that happens since we are covered in so
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many a day.
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Especially in the city, right?
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Especially in the city. But yes, so the
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uh evening of this, so it was last
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night, the um the evening of June 23rd.
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So today the 24th is um if you're
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listening to this, we are recording this
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on the 24th actually. So the day of the
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24th is the day is the feast of San Juan
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or St. John the Baptist, but on the
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evening before it's a big party here on
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the beach and they have bonfires and
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everything and this so this started with
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like you know that it has roots you know
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in ancient timey things, pagan things
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like midsummer rituals, you know the
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summer solstice, all of that. So they
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use this fire to purify and protect and
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renew. It's all about rebirth. They love
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a fire here about getting rid of the old
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and welcoming the new kind of stuff year
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round. Year round and they love it. So
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this is on the longest day of the year
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and so that's why it combines and it was
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supposed to theoretically it was his
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birthday San Juan's birthday. So these
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two things kind of came together and
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basically also later on it was it was
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adopted by the by the Christian aligned
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with the Christian tradition of just
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commemorating um his birth. So it's kind
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of the two things together and they've
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kind of melded now to just one big old
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festival as far as I can see with fire
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and bonfires on the beach. Lots of
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bonfires. I mean I don't know in the
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city hundreds of thousands of people are
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at the beach. Um, you go to like the the
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Malvarosa, La Aceras, beaches, Patakona,
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just thousands of people everywhere and
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bonfires everywhere. And what is so
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crazy is that the city provides the
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firework. Now, you have to get in line
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and because people first come, first
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serve, but the city is providing this
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fireworks. Firework firewood. This
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firewood, that's the word. Not
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fireworks. I confuse the two because
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it's always fireworks here. That's true.
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So, what happens? I mean, is do they
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just dump like a pile of wood in one
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place and everyone can just take what
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they want or are they just like dumping
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it in various places? Like how does that
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actually There's like the trucks come
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and you line up and get it from the
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trucks and then the trucks take off.
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That's really nice. So the idea is that
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everybody on this evening um is coming
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down to the beach and it's specifically
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you will not fire you will not find in
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this scenario bonfires happening in the
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city. This is a very specifically a
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beach thing. Um right. It's not in the
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orange groves. No,
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we went out. It was very sweet. We went
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out with some friends um in like 2021
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when that no it was still very coy and
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so we had a very min my experience has
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been a very miniature San Juan holiday
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where we built this teeny tiny like
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little bonfire found built you know
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built with wood that the kids could find
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on the beach and we kind of lit it and
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managed to get a tiny fire and you know
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what you're supposed to do is you're
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supposed to jump over the flames and
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that is supposed to purify your soul and
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cleanse you from bad luck and bring you
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good fortune in in the coming year. So,
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I guess it doesn't matter how big this
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fire is, but ours might have been a bit
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safer than what you've seen. Oh, yeah. I
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mean, and it has to be an odd number.
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So, like seven, nine times. It's you
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don't want to jump over twice. That's
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bad luck. So, it's got to be an odd
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number of times. This is very good to
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know.
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You don't want to make this mistake.
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And what's crazy, and we've talked about
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this before, but the lack of parental
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supervision in Valencia or in Spain is
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is refreshing and yet scary at the same
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time because these parents are not
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looking and kids are just jumping over
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these fires like crazy. And you're like,
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is this cool? And and it gets really
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smoky at the beach, by the way. And so I
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would imagine cuz no, it's not like
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everyone's jumping over one bonfire.
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Like every group of people is building
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their own bonfire. Correct. So it's a
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lot. Yes. There's Yeah. And there are
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areas where there's not supposed to be
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like there's areas where there can be
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bonfires and areas where they're not.
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But the smoke is so intense that you
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smell I mean we still smell from it. It
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is pretty intense. The I've taken two
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showers and the little hair I have still
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reeks of of burnt wood. That is the
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worst how it gets in your hair. I think.
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Yeah. And what's also important is not
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just the jumping over the flames. It's
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it's the jumping over the waves. So you
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want to jump at midnight jumping over
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the seven waves as a purification,
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right? And and people will wash their
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face or just dangle their feet, but you
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want to get wet at that time as well.
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And um what I thought was really
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interesting too is that people will
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write down their grievances and wishes
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and things like that and throw those
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into the fire. So it's like letting go
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of all these hang-ups. Yeah. And I want
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to also mention, you know, typical in
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Spain, this is happening at midnight.
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This is not happening at 6:00 in the
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afternoon. Okay. So, if you're going to
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go out to this, I think we talked about
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you were talk you were talking about
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going out at like 11 so that you didn't
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have to be out all night and then coming
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back after midnight so that you were
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sort of out for a couple of hours rather
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than I mean people will go out early and
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they'll eat and they'll have you know
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the communal dining at the beach
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bringing everything to the beach and and
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having their tinto verano and and all
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these delicious things at the beach and
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then at midnight you have to wait till
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midnight to do all these rituals. Yeah.
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That's Yeah, that's where the good luck
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happens. If you leave before you're out
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of luck. So, yes. And then people stay
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until 4:00 and then at 4:00 the city
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comes in and cleans it up. So, you have
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to get off the beach. But people are out
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there all night. I mean, it's insane.
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And I'm not that young to do that. And
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then, of course, some of these other
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parents have shamed me in the past
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saying that, oh, well, we were here
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until 5. We watched the sunrise. What
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about you? Oh, lovely. Well, no, I would
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I my eyes were burning out of my head. I
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had to leave. Definitely with the smoke.
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But also I will say there just overall
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we love to go to the beach later in the
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evening you know I mean it's light till
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very late already at this point we've
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already had a heat wave this year like
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it's been really really hot the time to
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be at the beach is midnight so so there
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is something to be said for having a
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having a party and a festival and I in
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these types of scenarios the atmosphere
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at the beach is just it's electric right
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and it's really really fun it really is,
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you know, and I will say, you know, as a
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side note, like to agree with you that
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that beach culture thing is when our
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first summer here, we went to the beach
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a lot and we went during the day because
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the beach is about sun and water. And as
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we're like getting on and to the bus
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back into town, thousands of people are
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just getting off the buses cuz that's
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when they're coming to the beach. Like
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I've never lived in a place where the
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beach is almost like feels like it's a
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24-hour culture without being Miami,
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right? Without it being this crazy
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place. No, this is literally just this
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is literally just coming to the beach to
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go in the water and hang out and maybe
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have your dinner and have your picnic,
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but having it at 600 7 8:00 at night
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instead is actually just a delightful
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time to have it. So, I can see how this
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can kind of move on till till midnight.
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And again, as we've talked about in Fias
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and other festivities that happen in
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Spain, especially around here, the
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experience of how quickly they clean up
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this stuff is amazing. I mean, truly,
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like it is a work of art how quickly
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stuff gets cleaned here. It's shocking.
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It's like it's never happened at all.
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And what's really great like during FIS
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during this holiday because it's such a
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big one that the public transport like
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the buses are running 24 hours, too. So
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you if you're still there at 3 in the
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morning, you're getting home. Don't have
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to worry. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah.
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So you can actually get back at all
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times. Um and they add extra buses. So
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it's they're crowded, but you're not
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like dying. They're running them a lot.
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You may not know this, but do the buses
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usually stop at a certain time at night
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if you're going back and forth to the
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beach? Do you think they do? I don't
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know the exact hours cuz I'm, you know,
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like you a parent. It's not like I have
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a late night social life on a Tuesday.
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And I know the further the buses go, the
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earlier they shut down, just like the
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subways, right? So the subways in the
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city go a little bit longer. But if you
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have to get to Bettora, these other
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cities, they're not going that they're
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not doing that till 10:30 at night or 11
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o'clock at night. Yeah. And I will say
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they're doing this all over the beaches
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everywhere. It's not just around the
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city. This is a a big festival and on
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the beaches outside where we live like
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Bthal and El Poo and stuff, there's
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people doing this there, too. So, you
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may not have the number of people you
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have at the city beaches, but it is
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definitely a festival that's going on
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all up and down the coast here. So, it's
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worth a trip for that, I think.
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Wonderful. It is worth the trip. Well,
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it's worth moving to Spain for it, I
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think. Oh, it's worth moving to Spain.
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coming for I mean obviously but anyway
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that's our Poco Poco for today that is
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San Juan the festival ciao ciao
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would. Till the next episode. Bye.
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[Music]