São João Festival is the biggest festival in a year in Porto taking place during the night from 23 to 24 June each year. The celebrations pay tribute to Saint John the Baptist, although not being the official patron of the city (the patron saint of Porto is Our Lady of Vendôme). Originally, the celebrations marked the beginning of the summer solstice and fertility, as well as harvests and abundance and have rather pagan than Catholic origins. There are many concerts, events and spectacular fireworks during the night of São João. Below we have described the top 5 traditions of Festival São João in Porto.
- Hitting people with plastic hammers – this is probably the most funny part of the night – hit random people in the street and get hit by random people with the plastic hammer (martelo) on your head 😀
- Eating grilled sardines – grilled sardines (sardinhas assadas) taste the best definitely during the São João Festival!
- Launching air balloons – around midnight the sky lights up with plenty of air balloons. This tradition has its roots in pagan festivities, but in recent years it was prohibited by the Portuguese Government to light up anything outside during the summer to avoid the fires.
- Watching fireworks – São João fireworks belong to the most beautiful throughout the whole year, being even nicer than the New Year’s Eve’s fireworks. They start at midnight and the most beautiful ones are those coming directly from Luís I Bridge.
- Buying basil plant (manjerico) – According to the tradition, in June, boyfriends offer their girlfriends a basil plant with a small flag with some love words. Manjericos tradition says that you should not smell the plant directly, as this makes it dry faster.
