The images of a night of Saint John in one of the coastal parishes of Vigo

Today is the day of Saint John the Baptist, a day during which Galicia celebrates an ancient tradition of making bonfires at midnight.

A spectacular sunset in time-lapse in the small paradise of the Vigo Estuary
Saliente de Coya, the little-known story of Vigo's most popular viewpoint

Yesterday I had the opportunity to experience this tradition in Corujo, one of the coastal parishes of the city of Vigo. Year after year, this parish organizes a neighborhood bonfire in the esplanade next to the beautiful Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Vao, a small stone church built in 1952 and designed by the architect Antonio Román Conde. In the images we can see some of the customs of this celebration, such as jumping over the bonfire (for safety reasons a smaller bonfire is lit to one side for this), as well as students throwing their notes into the flames once the school year has ended.

This year there were a lot of people at the bonfires in Vigo since it's a public holiday throughout Galicia (the holiday for Galician Literature Day was moved because it fell on a Sunday). In other years, bagpipe music could be heard at this bonfire in Corujo, which was lovely, but this time they opted for a DJ playing current music, which attracted a lot of young people. Personally, I prefer the bagpipes.

This is the first night of Saint John without my father, although I know he was with us in a way. We've spent many years following this tradition together, and in every place we've been together, his memory is especially alive for us.