The night of 23th to 24th of June is called "San Xuan" and here in Galicia it is a magical night!
It was the night after my adventure on the Cies and I surfed the couch of a young marine biologist from Vigo, Noelia. She and her parents warmly welcomed me in their home and showed me the traditions they do in the night of San Juan.
We collected all sorts of herbs, grases and leaves from their garden until we had a fragrant bunch of plants which we then put in a tub of water. We left this outside over night. It is thought that the herbs and the water absorb the magic of the moonlight and in the morning we washed our faces with this essence for good luck.
We also went to the beach with some of the other couchsurfing guys that night. People built up a huge pile of wooden things with a pole in the middle on which they hanged a straw man. Everybody wrote snippets with all the bad things they want to forget and get rid of to burn. So did I. At midnight they lit the fire and it was just huge!
It was the night after my adventure on the Cies and I surfed the couch of a young marine biologist from Vigo, Noelia. She and her parents warmly welcomed me in their home and showed me the traditions they do in the night of San Juan.
We collected all sorts of herbs, grases and leaves from their garden until we had a fragrant bunch of plants which we then put in a tub of water. We left this outside over night. It is thought that the herbs and the water absorb the magic of the moonlight and in the morning we washed our faces with this essence for good luck.
We also went to the beach with some of the other couchsurfing guys that night. People built up a huge pile of wooden things with a pole in the middle on which they hanged a straw man. Everybody wrote snippets with all the bad things they want to forget and get rid of to burn. So did I. At midnight they lit the fire and it was just huge!
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Can you see how the flames try to reach the moon?
At the beach there also were a lot of fires burning. Smaller ones, with people sitting around them laughing, chatting and singing. If you jump three times over the fire, you can wish for something!
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