Hi Mum!
Last Tuesday Irene took me to the traditional midsummer party in Spain, called "Noche de San Juan" (Night of Saint John). . Parties are organised usually at beaches, where bonfires are lit always at 00:00 and a set of firework displays usually take place. Bonfires are lit in the streets and there are fireworks too. This protective character of fire wards men off evil spirits and witches (here called Meigas).
In Caldas, they build a structure in the middle of the river and build something (this year they built a model of the town hall).
Midsummer tradition is also especially strong in northern areas of the country, such as Galicia, where one can easily identify the rituals that reveal the pagan beliefs widespread throughout Europe in Neolithic times.
Traditionally, people collect several species of plants on St. John's eve, including thyme, lemon verbena and sage among others; they are dipped in a vessel with water and left outside exposed to the dew of night until the following morning, when people use the resulting flower water to wash their faces. Supposedly, that will shoo the witches 
.
Irene has also told me that this night young people also play jokes (althought I think that sometimes they are not very nice, she told me about her granny's gateway been stolen as a "joke").
Here you have the pictures, unfortunately, it was kind of difficult to take photos as there were so much people and most of the pictures were blurred, so I chose the best ones.
Firefighters were there to control the fire:
In the final picture you can see where they were roasting sardines, a typical dish this night.
Lots of love
Baubles
