Festas Juninas

Festas Juninas in Recife 2005

Recife is ready to celebrate the most authentic Saint John´s party of its history. There are four campgrounds erected by the Municipality at Praça do Arsenal, Rua Tomazina, Pátio de São Pedro and Sítio da Trindade. There will be 24 days of celebrations and 168 artiststs performing in 215 shows. Like in previous years, Municipality has decided to invest hard in the valueing of the local rhythms and of the authentic Pernambucan traditions. This year´s party is going to be the one to stand out the regional artists (singers, composers - including children -, and poets). To start with, it has been picked the name of singer, composer and accordion player Chiquinha Gonzaga to be honored during the whole feast. More than just sister of King of Baião, Luiz Gonzaga, Chiquinha made her career as the first woman to play an eight-bass accordion in Brazil.

Besides its own campgrounds, the Municipality sponsors around 200 others located in several communities, like in the suburbs of Campo Grande, Ibura, Dois Unidos, Jardim São Paulo, Avenida do Forte, and so on.

Opening Night - The party is going to begin on the 10th at Pátio de São Pedro, but the official opening night will take place on the 11th, at Sítio da Trindade, where Chiquinha Gonzaga wil be handed a commemorative plate by mayor João Paulo and, in turn, she will perform for the grandiose audience. The following show at that night will be by Marinês e sua Gente.

Sítio da Trindade will house the largest number of presentations during Saint John´s party and is going to be open as far as July 3rd. The place has been adapted into a huge campground and will join together all the traditions of the June feasts, including dozens of tents where typical food and beverage will be sold. Sítio da Trindade is also known as the campground which assembles the biggest number of visitors.

Novelty - The four big campgrounds (Praça do Arsenal, Pátio de São Pedro, Sítio da Trindade and Rua da Tomazina) will be turned into large dancing halls. They will be entirely covered by awnings to make people dancing all night long even if it rains.
The "Freviocas", which during Saint John´s party are specially decorated for the occasion and are given the name of "Forroviocas", will help arouse joy in several communities. The party will be yet completed with the contests of quadrilhas for adults and children.

That´s it! The party is just at the beginning and it will bring to you a mix of culture and rhythms typically northeastern: forró, coco, xote, xaxado, baião, ciranda and marujada, and with a varied set of shows for all wishes and pockets. To the young people the show at Rua da Tomazina will be a special alternative. It will offer rock, samba-rock, manguebeat and DJs. Children have not been forgotten either. They will attend to a special programmation at Sítio da Trindade and Praça do Arsenal.

Well, it is all now up to you. Just get ready for that much of joy cause the feast is about to start. A very good Saint John´s party!

Source: Website of the city of Recife.