festa junina

invited to festa junina by Simone and Marcello (a couple of colleagues who are engaged to be married in august) on a small farm (farmito - my crude attempt at a joke) outside campinas. as you can tell by the photos, it is customary to wear farm clothes, plaid shirts/dresses, and straw hats to this fest. the ladies often add freckles to complete the look.

festa junina is a festival in brasil to celebrate three saints in june - Antonio, Joao, and Pedro. as it is winter here, the typical foods for the fest are popcorn, cao quente (hot dogs, but not any ordinary dog - more on this later), corn on the cob, canjica (sweet popcorn), more food including peanuts, and tons of homemade sweets. as for drink - it is typical to serve vino quente (akin to a hot sangria) for the fest along with a quentao (spicy ginger drink with a strong kick of cachaca) and lots of brasilian beer. more on my discoveries with cachaca and caipirinhas later.

back to the cao quente - literally, hot dog. first, the dog buns here are deep to hold a lot of food. with the dog in the bun, it's customary to pile on small fried potato strips, a kind of salsa in vinegar, corn, and smashed potatoes (yep! smashed potatoes!).

once the festivities got really going, the fireworks started and continued well into the night. one of the highlights was alighting and launching tissue paper balloons (see photo) -- and attempting to shoot them down with real, live fireworks. along with the fireworks, we had a huge bonfire and the neighbors did, too. after a few rounds of english vs. portuguese (yes, i was the main attraction for a few minutes and lost miserably!) and dancing a jig, the fest continued...