Anatomy of a Bonfire

A Photo Essay of San Juan’s Summer Solstice Celebration in Getxo, Spain.

School is over. Now the kids have one last rite of passage: build a bonfire and jump over it. First, they have to dumpster dive, hide from cops and perhaps, the toughest task — wait patiently.

Throughout Spain and in Basque country, residents celebrate the summer solstice on June 23 with live music, “sardiñadas” and bonfires. Most bonfires are built along the shoreline where revelers finish the celebration with a midnight swim to “cleanse” themselves.

I, however, didn’t go to the “adult” version but rather stuck around to see how the children were initiated into this long-held tradition.

“We burn everything, even old man diapers,” said one of the kids to me.

El encanto del fuego. The fire was already within.

The parents wait in the sidelines while others drink beer in the Cafe Bar Larra and listen to traditional Euskera music.

Children like their parents form bonds and become“cuadrillas,” neighborhood groups that become life long friends.

And while their parents dance and drink, the kids construct what they hope will be a conflagration to rid the unwanted past: school assignments, unused books, and boring lecture notes that took them away from favorite youtube video games.

The Biggest Bounty of All: A MASSIVE CRATE.

You don’t have to tell me twice. A neighbor saw the kids and told them to take his unwanted wooden crate.

Burn Baby Burn.

No Monkey Business. Children bring their school assignments and watch them burn.

A close up. The note reads: I had motives, if I only kept my calm.

The Leap of Faith

They waited for the flames to subside. The older and braver ones showed the rest how it was to be done.

Last year the kids found a couch, but the cops stopped them before the whole park was set ablaze. In the meantime, this year’s bonfire proved to have just the right amount of flame, even for me.