The San Juan Bonfires (A Coruña)

On the night of San Juan, A Coruña in Galicia turns into a gigantic bonfire to celebrate the arrival of summer.

Different activities relating to this festival begin in May, and a huge number of cultural, social, sports and public events are celebrated throughout the whole of June. Chamber music concerts, recitals, exhibitions, ballet and regional dances are performed in the most traditional locations in the city. But the day everyone is waiting for is 23 June. Processions and pasacalles parades take place throughout the day, packed with music groups, bagpipes and traditional dances, not to mention the groups of performers and the processional giant figures known as cabezudos, which fill the streets of A Coruña with colour, joy and festive sounds. The Plaza de María Pita square hosts a music festival, and the smell of grilled sardines wafts through the air at dinnertime as the different neighbourhoods fill up with sardiñadas (sardine grills).