Festa Junina « June « Somewhere in the world today…

Feliz Festa Junina! Dress up country style and dance the Quadrilha in Brazil!

When: June 13th, 24th & 29th every year.
Where: Brazil.

The Brazilian Festa Junina parties can be even bigger than Carnival in some cities with bonfires and fireworks, and plenty of dancing and drinking throughout the night.

Just the same Carnival, these festivities involve extravagant costumes, but in this case, its always peasant costumes. The men dress up as farm boys with large straw hats and the women wear red checked dresses with pigtails, freckles and a gap painted between their front teeth.

It was the Portuguese that brought the tradition to Brazil. The month of June, being the beginning of the summer in Europe, brings the crops, and farm people celebrated with parties and festivals (See St Anthony’s festival and St John’s Festival). All over Europe, people used to make bonfires on hilltops and plains to dance around and jump over.

In Brazil the Festa Junina parties are to celebrate the saints Anthony (June 13th) , John (June 24th) and Peter (June 29th) with lots of Brazilian traditional foods, drink.

Have you been to the Festa Junina in Brazil yourself? If so, please tell us all about it! You can share your pics and videos on our facebook page too! Or if you just want to say hi, or leave a comment for any other reason, we’d love to hear from you.

Brazilian Food & Drink

Try pamonha, a close relative of the Mexican tamal, a kind or corn dough boiled in a corn husk. Brazilians love their cakes as much as their festas. There are always loads of food stalls selling cassava cake (a Festa Junina staple), peanut brittle, carrot cake, corn cake etc and the tasty quentão which is a hot alcoholic drink made with ginger, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and cachaça (sugar cane liqueur). Try our deliciously sticky Brazilian Carrot cake recipe. Check out the Gringa Eats Brazilian blog for some more Brazilian culinary experiences.

Travel to Brazil

Book flights and hotels anywhere in Brazil with ebookers.com or complete package holidays with Kuoni.

Pack off your troubles!

Also known as “trouble dolls” these little dolls originating from Guatemala in South America, have very special powers. According to legend, you must tell one worry to each doll when you go to bed at night, and then place the dolls under your pillow. In the morning the dolls have taken all your worries away!