Vietnamese Embassy organizes Festa Juninas Festival in Brazil
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Vietnamese Embassy organizes Festa Juninas Festival in Brazil. (Photo: WVR) |
Ms. Senhora Julie-Pascale Moudoute Bell, President of Brasilia International Club, thanked the Vietnamese Embassy for their coordination in organizing the festival. She emphasized that this is an opportunity for countries to exchange and learn about each other's cultures, especially to enjoy very typical Vietnamese dishes.
Every June, across Brazil, Festas Juninas, also known as Festas de São João, celebrates the birthday of Saint John/João (June 24).
Vietnamese Embassy organizes Festa Juninas Festival in Brazil: this is an opportunity for countries to exchange and learn about each other's cultures. (Photo: WVR) |
This festival, which originated with the Portuguese during the colonial period (1500-1822), is mainly celebrated on the eve of Catholic solemnities for Saint Anthony, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Peter.
Participants often use the festival as a way to express their gratitude to heaven and earth for giving them favorable rains and bountiful harvests.
In the past in Brazil, the festival was mainly held in the countryside. Attending the event, the boys wore large straw hats while the women braided their hair on both sides, dotted with freckles, painted their teeth, and wore red checkered skirts. They perform a dance called "quadrille".
Vietnamese Embassy organizes Festa Juninas Festival in Brazil. (Photo: WVR) |
Dating from Europe in the nineteenth century, brought to Brazil by the Portuguese, the "quadrille" features an arrangement of couples around a mock wedding with the bride and groom as the focal point of the dance.
Nowadays, not only in rural areas, festivals are also held in schools to keep a good tradition. The festival is also a message of peace, solidarity, and friendship, wishing everyone happiness and prosperity with good crops.