Festa Junina

Festa Junina, or the so-called Festa de São João holiday, is a Brazilian harvest festival, adopted from European Midsummer celebrations. This national tradition celebrates the end of the rainy seasons, the rural life, and the beginning of harvest. Brazilians celebrate this unique festival for the whole month of June.

History

Traditions

Marketing Activities

History of Festa Junina

Festa Junina is an international tradition as it’s adapted from the European festival that happens during Midsummer. But the history of this festival dates back to the colonial period (1500–1822) when the Portuguese established a tradition of celebrating the nativity of St. John the Baptist.

Talking about Brazil, the Festa Junina holiday plays an important role in Latin American culture, and it is celebrated during the month of June nationwide. Not only does this festival commemorate Catholic priests like Saint Anthony, Saint John, and Saint Peter, but it also celebrates rural life and its traditions. With the aim of expressing gratitude for the rain, participants wear rural-themed clothes, dance quadrilha, and create bonfires. All in all, it is all about the agricultural nature of the holiday.

Thousands of common people gather together to express appreciation to Saint John the Baptist on the special date, the night of 23 June in the city of Porto, the north of Portugal.

Traditions of Festa Junina

As long as the Festa Junina festival honors rural life, it’s no wonder that rural farmers, known as caipiras, organize and celebrate it. Rural citizens value, respect, and follow traditions of this huge annual feast.

Create a large bonfire: As a symbol and traditional element of the festival, creating a bonfire is a must. Since fire symbolizes various aspects of lifespan, it’s no wonder that people use bonfires at the beginning of the harvest. People always gather around the bonfire, so this tradition plays a great role in the importance of the Festa Junina festival.

Enjoy typical Brazilian cuisine: Festa Junina celebrates rural traditions, so it goes without saying that people eat typical Brazilian cuisine (pamonha and canjica) and drink quentão, a traditional apple-cinnamon Brazilian cocktail. The majority of meals are made with corn, but rice pudding is also considered to be a typical meal to see on the Festa Junina menu.

Dance the quadrilha: During the festival, people dance Brazilian folk dance, quadrilha. It’s a type of traditional street dance that gained in popularity during the 19th century. The origin of quadrilha has roots in France, but Brazilian adaptations are more complex. Today, it’s a performance that tells the story and includes up to 30 dressed-up performers. However, common people also take part in dancing.

Wear traditional clothes: Theme costumes help to create the festive atmosphere, so the majority of people wear traditional clothes during the festival. To get a better picture of traditional costumes for Festa Junina, think about the Western style and its denim overalls, shorts, and checkered shirts. In short, it’s typical for people to dress up like farmers.

Although Festa Junina is all about the rural life, modern people use social media platforms to capture the moments and share their experience online. For marketers, this is an opportunity to reach potential customers and interact with them.

Marketing Activities for Festa Junina

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the most common social media platforms for running your marketing campaign around Festa Junina. It can be difficult to find a lot of information
about marketing activities for this holiday, so we’ve gathered the best ideas for you.

Decor your logo with a bonfire: Brazilians honor their customs and traditions, so it’s important to make Festa Junina a part of your social media campaign even if you don’t have much time or budget. And the easiest way to recognize the festival is to add a bonfire on your logo, a symbol of Festa Junina.

Make up holiday-related slogans: Another opportunity to celebrate Festa Junina without putting much effort is to create slogans that represent the importance of rural life and local traditions. If you’re creative enough to make up a slogan around your brand name, it can help you build brand awareness.

Post greetings or quotes: People celebrate Festa Junina during the month of June each year, so there’s no doubt that the festival is important to people. To keep up with trending topics and satisfy your target audience, you need to share at least one post dedicated to the topic. The easiest way to create posts for social media is to choose festive pictures and put your text greeting on these images.

Promote your meal specials: Festa Junina attracts millions of people each year, so restaurants and cafes take part in the event. If you’re working in the restaurant industry, it’s a great idea to develop specials, dedicated to Festa Junina. Whether you choose to add new dishes, decorate the place, or change the look of the menu, keep it close to Festa Junina theme.

Offer time-limited deals: People spend big money during the period of festival, so offering a time-limited deal is a great way to show your customers that you take care of them and respect their traditions.

Connect with attendees: Ask Brazilians and you will find out that the majority of them share their thoughts and emotions on social media during Festa Junina. Since customers crave in-person connections with brands, you can slide into direct messages to discover the trending topic and show your care.

Share festival photos: Social media platforms are about visual content and people love browsing photo albums, so upload festival photos. If you’re lucky to know people in the photos, you can tag them to grab their attention and increase organic reach. You can also check relevant hashtags to find more photos from common people and ask them for permission to use their photos on your account. All in all, user-generated content improves brand trust.

Organize a festive quiz: Festa Junina has a great history and a variety of traditions, so it can be interesting for people to test their knowledge. Moreover, there’s no need to invest much time or effort to organize a festive quiz, especially if you have a business profile on Instagram and use Instagram Stories for business.

Give away theme gifts: Social media contests and giveaways always attract a great number of participants as people love interactive content that gives an opportunity to get something for nothing. If you want to recognize Festa Junina, you can dedicate your giveaway to the festival and offer themed gifts as the prizes.

No matter what activity you choose, keep in mind that the Festa Junina festival is a huge party that unites people, so your social media content should bring joy and a sense of belonging to establish a long-term connection with your target audience.

Colors of Festa Junina

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Orange-red, corn, lime-green, and deep-sky-blue are the major colors of Festa Junina. However, don’t stick to this palette that much because this holiday can be associated with any bright color! It is a feast of life, joy, and happiness, so keep that in mind while making visuals for your Festa Junina campaign.

Symbols of Festa Junina

Whether you want to decorate your shop or create holiday-related images, it’s important to know about the festival symbols to build your visual identity around Festa Junina. Typical symbols of Festa Junina are the São João bonfire, quadrilha dance, and themed dress-up. If you need to boost inspiration, check out our collection of Festa Junina templates