Goat meat, octopus, chops, pineapples and sardines washed down with good local wine and under the fire of the San Juan bonfire. A tradition that is maintained year after year throughout the island and that symbolizes the celebration of the beginning of summer. In this sense, Arrecife was no exception and, as tradition dictates, on Wednesday night bonfires were lit in almost all the neighborhoods of the capital. In this way, the neighbors jumped or went around them, before approaching the beach to enter and exit the sea three times, and thus attract good luck all year round.
From the City Council they assure that the mayor of Arrecife, Cándido Reguera, and the councilors of Barrios and Environment, Lorenzo Lemaur and Joel Delgado, "visited almost all of the lit bonfires in the municipality last night to enjoy the night of San Juan with the residents of the capital and verify that everything was proceeding normally." Tenorio, Argana Alta, Tinasoria and Valterra were some of the places visited by the Arrecife delegation.
Without mishaps
An ambulance from the Red Cross, a medicalized unit, Firefighters, Civil Protection and the Local Police of Arrecife carried out special services throughout the night, without any significant incidents being recorded. Thus, the city was divided into three zones that were constantly patrolled.
For their part, the bonfires lit last night, in smaller numbers than in previous years, were located in the neighborhoods of Altavista, Argana Alta, Maneje, Titerroy, San Francisco Javier, La Vega, Las Salinas and Valterra.
Tradition
In the end, tradition indicates that on the night of San Juan all waters are blessed by the Baptist. For this reason, some Arrecife residents took advantage of the night dew to leave the basin with rosemary in the street and proceed this Thursday, in the first six hours of the 24th, to wash their faces with that perfumed water, with the aim of purifying themselves doubly.
The night of San Juan celebrates the arrival of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and its main rite consists of lighting a bonfire. The purpose of this rite was to "give more strength to the sun" which, from those days on, was becoming more "weak". Symbolically, fire also had a "purifying" function in the people who contemplated it. An original tradition that is still preserved in most of the places where the festival of San Juan Bautista is celebrated, such as Arrecife, where the custom of lighting bonfires continues.