The magic of Nit de Sant Joan (Midsummer’s Night) comes to Playa de Palma

Imagine for a moment that it’s 8 p.m. on 23rd June, that you step out onto the terrace of your hotel or apartment on Playa de Palma, and you see the sun’s fire slowly extinguishing itself on the horizon.

That the sun’s last rays also come horizontally through the window and light up the room; and you can feel the refreshing night breeze that starts up at sunset on a summer’s day. The twilight has a special quality because it’s the Nit de Sant Joan (Midsummer’s Night), the traditional fiesta with which we Mallorcans welcome in the summer as we sit on the sand surrounded by lighted candles and share our wishes with the sea.

One of the events on Playa de Palma that we suggest for you and your family and friends, is to experience this night of festivities that, year after year, brings together hundreds of barefooted people, with their feet in the sand and sometimes even paddling in the Mediterrean Sea that bathes the coast on this fiesta in Mallorca. You’ve only to go down to the beach that you can see from your Pabisa hotel and join in the celebration, taking with you some carbonated drinks and some food for supper. The magical hour starts at the stroke of midnight.

Tradition has it that, on the eve of the Feast of Sant Joan (St. John), we have to throw into the bonfire something old or a slip of paper on which we’ve written down everything we’d like to change. As it’s being consumed by the flames, we jump up and down on the spot three times.

Palma City Council organizes one of the events in Mallorca that take place on the eve of the feast of Sant Joan in the Parque del Mar, next to Mallorca Cathedral, where the rain of fire of the “correfoc”, music and traditional dancing will play the leading roles on this festive evening.

On the following day, 24th June, we celebrate the feast day of St. John the Baptist, coinciding with the summer solstice, the longest day and the shortest night, and contributing to the magic of this fiesta.