Sanjoaninas

(St John Festivity in the City of Angra, Azores)

St. John Festivities (Sanjoaninas), the most important of the popular traditional festivities of the Azores, taking place in the city of Angra, Terceira Island, are described in historic documents since 1611.

But by the content of these documents it is possible to suggest that the festivities were in action in Angra, the capital city of the Azores, during the first three centuries of colonization.

They might have travelled to the Islands with the various groups of settlers, mainly Flemish, Portuguese, French and Spanish, in which countries were well known and practiced.

Rooted in the Solstice celebrations, common in the entire Europe, and Christianized through the figure of St John Baptist, the event in Portugal became dedicated to King John the III (1502-1557), by his own royal decree. Thus, it naturally took place in Angra, a city directly tied to the Kingdom, before 1611.

Christianized through the figure of
St John Baptist, whose description has similarities with the traces attributed to the Greek divinity Adonis, (also to Diane and Dionysius), representative of the mythology of nature and vegetation in the South Europe, he is also known as defending the populations against the bad spirits, believed to become active on the night of the Solstice.

Rooted in the Solstice celebrations, common in the entire Europe, it regularly shows, every year, some of the sun symbols, like the “Solar Cars” decorated with vegetation, and the Queen, representing the goddess of the vegetation Diane

This might explain the devotion to the Saint, which during some time kept the Christianized elements, but now is predominantly pagan.

The actual performances have kept much of the elements which constituted the European format, namely the fertility symbols (the woman, the bull and the vegetation), the Sun symbols (fire, lights) and the excessive food ingestion, all part of the Summer Solstice’s mythology.

The Queen presents a speech (St John Speech) traditional of this ceremony.

The city is decorated with garlands and lights (vegetation and fire are both symbols of Sun)
The Queen’s parade marks the beginning of the Festivities (woman - Diana and/or Deméter, in prominence), just as it was performed in California, in the past, when remembering the European traditions

 Dances. Groups of dancers, in elaborated choreographies, parade the main streets for two nights (ritual dances of the Summer Solstice, bringing in town the blessing of the goddess Diana or Deméter)

Bullfights. At least four different types of fight are present, each taking place in special sceneries (Mitras and Dionysius)

Sports and artistic contests (to select the best athletes which would perform the role of the god)

Traditional food Taverns and pothouses, rustically build for the effect with logs, are disperse through the city, hosting people to over 04.00 AM (excess of food eating is symbolic of fertility rituals)
Music. Concerts by famous musicians and by philharmonics take place through the city, in open air, lasting to late in the night (music was part of any ritual, as a means to contact the divinity)
Bonfires (To restore Sun’s strength and to prolong its heat on earth) Fireworks. (to prolong Sun’s light on earth)

All this takes place in the ambience of a town credited by UNESCO as World Heritage Centre, since 1983.
(see: Angra do Heroismo)