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ARCHIVED - Cartagena Town Hall bans traditional San Juan bonfires on 23rd June
The risk of large gatherings on the beaches heightens concern over celebrating the start of summer
The Town Hall of Cartagena has announced that the traditional bonfires to celebrate the night of San Juan on 23rd to 24th June are to be banned this year in an effort to prevent large numbers of people from gathering in public, due to the on-going risk posed by Covid-19.
This will be the second time the pandemic has caused the night of San Juan to become a wet squib rather than being celebrated with a big bang, and once again the beach bonfires which until last year marked the start of the summer throughout the Spanish Costas will be conspicuous by their absence – the city of Valencia has already announced a similar ban and others are sure to follow. Such is the force of tradition, of course, that in reality there are still likely to be groups congregating on the beaches and in other areas, but volunteers and the forces of law and order will be attempting to enforce social distancing and moderation.
One of the traditions associated with San Juan has it that good luck can be attracted by writing all the bad things that have happened over the last year on a piece of paper, throwing it on a bonfire and jumping over the flames, but the Town Hall’s decision means that you may have to do this on your own property rather than on public land!
It is also worth pointing out that the local police forces and firefighters of Murcia may not be too upset by the cancellation of the San Juan celebrations. In 2019 the Spanish “bonfire night” led to 142 incidents being reported to the emergency services with almost half of them (69) in the municipality of Cartagena, although fortunately none of them turned out to be serious, and many involved disputes between groups of young people and the throwing of firecrackers, as well as the mystifying craze of setting fire to rubbish collection bins in the streets.
Image: Felipe G. Pagán (Ayuntamiento de Cartagena)