Costa Adeje, Spain is a privileged destination thanks to its wonderful beaches and pristine natural environment of endless discovery, but it’s also a place of enormous cultural attraction, as you’ll shortly discover from your luxury property in Tenerife. One of the traditions that these islands share with the Mediterranean coast of Spain is their fascination with the longest night of the year, San Juan. It’s said that if you write your greatest desire on a piece of paper and burn it in a bonfire that night, your wish will come true. Whether you’re superstitious or not, this festival with pagan origins that is celebrated on the summer solstice holds a tremendous amount of magic and presents a special occasion to get together with friends.
San Juan is an enchanted night that you can begin to enjoy at dusk on the 23rd of June, but you’ll have to stay up until the wee hours because the real party begins at midnight. This is a great opportunity to leave your property at Abama and enjoy the incredible atmosphere that fills every corner of Tenerife and the celebration whose participants include both natives and the visitors here to take in the island’s charms.
Purifying bonfires, music, and fireworks
In municipalities like Puerto de la Cruz, Candelaria, Los Cristianos and even in Costa Adeje, Spain, you can find fascinating and emblematic places where hundreds of people gather to enjoy the festival around its traditional bonfires. The bravest will try to jump across the flames, as tradition recommends, to purify what ails their souls. Though it’s an activity that obviously comes with risks, the police are on high alert all night and do their utmost to control situations and make sure there are no incidents.
Normally these summer festivals are accompanied by live music and open-air concerts at various places throughout the island of Tenerife, as well as sophisticated and impressive fireworks displays.
Party and take a dip in the ocean
Logically, the beaches are also a major gathering place to enjoy the holiday. At beaches like La Tejita and Las Teresitas, unforgettable celebrations take place year after year, ending with a night swim in the ocean. The Punta Hidalgo beach, located in the municipality of La Laguna, deserves a special mention. Here, there is a hermitage consecrated to San Juan Bautista, in honor of which they celebrate a special festival called San Juanito. Tradition dictates that before they light the flame they must bring out the saint’s idol and place it on the shoreline so that it can bear witness to the burning of the bonfires. Don’t miss it!
The Goat Bath (El Baño de las Cabras)
And if you still have energy after the shortest night of the year, you can plan a special excursion for the next day to see one of the oddest examples of local culture, the Goat Bath. Taking place in Puerto de la Cruz on the 24th of June, this is a tradition inherited from the ancestral inhabitants of the island, the Guanches, who purified the livestock with a ritual surrounding fertility and the perpetuation of life. Following the ancient tradition, more than 2000 goats and about 20 horses are led to bathe in the ocean next to the dock.
If you’ve bought a luxury property at Abama near Adeje, Spain, and you have the luck to spend a few days of leisure on the island in the month of June, don’t miss out on this opportunity to lose yourself in Tenerife culture on an extraordinary night that makes it well worth the effort to leave the comforts of our fantastic resort.
