What does “festa junina” mean in Portuguese?

Festa junina is Brazil’s beloved June festival, a countryside-themed harvest party held all month long. The name links to junho (“June”), when it happens — though it may also go back to the older festa joanina, after São João (St. John the Baptist), whose day on the 24th is the festival’s centrepiece. Expect bonfires, plaid shirts and straw hats, corn-based treats, and the quadrilha — a Brazilian square dance. It’s so central that Brazilians count it among June’s must-do events.

In the clip, a guy psyching himself up to go out lists June’s big three: Copa do Mundo (the World Cup), festa junina, and Dia dos Namorados (Brazil’s Valentine’s, June 12). That grouping shows how festa junina anchors the whole month. The plural festas juninas is common, since towns and schools host their own. The festivals were brought by Portuguese colonizers and overlap with European midsummer (St. John’s) traditions — but in Brazil’s midwinter June, they became a distinctly caipira (rural/country) celebration.