Festival of San Xuan

(above, decorating the fountains of Mieres)

Our town of Mieres has been alive this week with the celebration of its patron saint, John the Baptist. The festivities for the saint's birthday (June 25) are traditional celebrations joined with the pre-Christian celebration of the summer solstice, which involves such events as the burning of the foguera in order to do away with any of the year's maladies which might keep us from entering the kingdom of the sun (now linked to the Kingdom of the Son of God, and thus to the life of Saint John the Baptist). The video clip shows the burning of the foguera in front of our town hall, with traditional Asturian dance and song among the 5,000 Mierenses (people from Mieres) in attendance.

There have been numerous parades through town with traditional Asturian dress and dance, plenty of local cider and the not-so-traditional attraction of bumper cars, bingo and mini-roller coasters installed in the park. The beautiful sounds of troupes of bagpipers have been making their way up to our windows throughout many afternoons this week and the fountains in town have been decorated with flowers in accordance with the belief that the water acquires magical powers and confers youth, beauty, fertility and sight on the eve of St. John the Baptist's birth/the summer solstice. (Two enormous oxen pulled a traditional, creaking wooden-wheeled cart with iron axles through town, carrying the flowers to the town fountains.)

It was a festive week, but we are happy to have recovered our sleep with the conclusion of the nightly concerts in the park, which typically lasted until 2:30am and boasted volumes that defied even the most effective earplugs. Silence at those hours is golden, especially in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy.