2027 Festa Junina

Festa Junina is Brazil's June festival cycle centred on St. John's Day, June 24, with St. Anthony on June 13 and St. Peter on June 29 completing the trio; it descends from Portuguese midsummer celebrations and flourished in the rural Northeast. People dress in rustic 'caipira' style — plaid shirts, straw hats, gingham dresses and painted-on freckles — dance the quadrilha, a square dance built around a mock country wedding, and gather around bonfires while forró bands play accordion and triangle. The food is based on corn and the winter harvest: pamonha, canjica, corn cakes, peanut brittle (pé de moleque) and hot spiced quentão. The biggest festivals are in Campina Grande in Paraíba, billed as the largest São João in the world, and Caruaru in Pernambuco, both running for most of June. June 24 is a public holiday in several Northeastern states but not nationally, and flights and hotels in the region fill early. This countdown ticks to midnight Brasília time in São Paulo on June 24.