SANT JOAN IN MENORCA
It’s the 25th of June. 6 in the morning. The dust finally settles, and like zombies, people make their way home after having celebrated Sant Joan (Saint John), some for six days straight. For many people of Ciutadella, today is the day the calendar is set to zero and the countdown for next year’s Sant Joan begins.
The celebrations on the small island of Menorca, Spain, are one of a kind. Sculpted over the ages by invasions and conquests, religion and politics, the fiestas of Sant Joan are deeply rooted in history but more importantly, have become a big part of the local identity.
Trying to capture the essence of Sant Joan and the experiences lived by the Santjoaners (people of Sant Joan) is an insurmountable feat in which neither hyperboles nor images of any kind can do it justice. This article and the images that accompany it, therefore, are documents of these traditions and in a sense, a ‘love letter’ to the island that has quietly and unexpectedly become a part of my own identity.