As winter arrives in the southern hemisphere, Brazilians celebrate ‘June Festivals’

Outside the Our Lady of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Florianopolis, Brazil, a boy plays the accordion to a crowd under a big white tent. Around him, vendors sell corn, cakes, BBQ and fried empanadas.

It’s a celebration of food, music and culture, but not the Brazilian culture many people think of. It’s called Festa Junina, or “June Festival,” Brazil’s traditional harvest celebration, and people dress like country folk and farmers in checkered shirts and frilly dresses to remember their ancestors who arrived in Brazil and cleared and tilled the land.

“I’m so happy,” said Cátia Prestes, a festival attendee. “I’m reliving the past: The music from the accordion. Inspired by the harvest. The agriculture. The people from the countryside. It’s such a mixture. Long live Brazil.”

Brazilians have been celebrating this for the last month. Most schools and community centers hold their own parties, and the church also plays a central role. 

Father Eugênio Luedke Filho leads the Our Lady of Sacred Heart Church, and he even wears a plaid shirt and straw hat to mark the occasion.

“It’s a time for the families to come together with traditional food, with traditional music, with traditional games for this time of the year,” he said. “It’s a time to bring family and community together and celebrate together.”

He explained the celebrations honor a series of saints whose holy days fall during June. The most important is Saint John, whose day falls on June 24, near the summer solstice and roughly halfway to Christmas.

In southern Brazil, these festivities already have a distinct Christmas feel. 

In a local school yard, people drink mulled wine and sing Festa Junina songs around a large bonfire. The fire is said to represent the flame that was lit by Saint John’s mother the night he was born.

“I loved making the fire,” said Sergio Menezes. When he was young, he said, each neighborhood would compete to see who could build the best bonfire. “This is always a really happy time for me, representing renewal, hope, family — and festivity.”

Historians say Portuguese and Spanish immigrants brought the June Festival celebrations to Brazil when they colonized the country centuries ago. Over the years, their traditions were mixed with African and Indigenous practices. So now, in many schools, children dance around a maypole, and they also perform Maculelé, an Afro-Brazilian dance with sticks related to the martial art Capoeira.

“It’s this mixture of all of these cultural elements that were brought here. And it’s so special and rich,” said Karina Hatta, a Brazilian artist of Japanese descent. “It seems like they brought everything, mixed it together and it worked out. Even though it’s cold, these festivities bring this inner warmth. This warmth of the spirit and union that is Brazilian.”

The celebrations are particularly huge in northeastern Brazil. Some towns hold massive carnival-like parties that are the biggest events of the year, and millions of people turn out. The region is also the birthplace of Forró, the traditional June Festival style of music. It’s said farmers and workers there would sing this as they gathered the crops.

“It’s a party for the saints,” said Lais Peres, another celebration attendee. “And it’s also for remembering northeastern Brazil. And all of the cultures. Every region of Brazil brings something different to the table.” 

In the south, boiled Pinhão, a big tasty pine nut that is abundant this time of year, is on the menu. 

Julia Melo told The World she’s happy to pass down all these traditions to her daughter.

“We love the June festivals, because it’s different entertainment from what we have today, away from the screens and technology,” she said. “It’s a collective festival with good food and music that reflects really important values around unity and simplicity.”