The festivities of São João de Braga

Born in 1150, the date on which a church dedicated to São João was founded in the city of Braga, it was during the 16th century that the festivities were established as one of the festivities of São João that involved more people, especially in number of spectators.

With activities where the profane merged with the religious, the Corrida do Porco Preto became one of the most important moments in the Sanjoanino calendar of Braga, to which, in the 18th century, masks and biblical dances were added.

Consolidated in history as the oldest Sanjoan celebration in Portugal, Braga lived, in the middle of the 19th century, two important and simultaneously coincident pilgrimages: that of São João da Ponte and São João do Souto.

If the first had as main characteristic the holding of a free fair, which took place in the surroundings of the chapel of São João, the second joined the usual religious rallies in a procession, where the Sanjoan parade with the Dance of King David and the Car of the Shepherds were the protagonists.

Increasingly attractive to the community of Braga, but also to outsiders, it is at the end of the 19th century that the city takes an important step towards the realization of the union of two Sanjoan festivities, and in 1983, a commission of parties in charge was appointed to perpetuate the festivities of São João de Braga.

The São João de Braga parties ended up being confirmed as the biggest in the city of Braga, thanks to the involvement of the City Council and the city's Commercial Association, seeing the number of events, institutions, people involved and spectators increase year after year year.

Source: saojoaobraga.pt

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