The night before yesterday was an special one which is called Nit de Sant Joan, when we celebrate the shortest night of the year with fireworks and campfires in the beach. I’ve heard that you can ask for a wish to come true during that summer and in order to make it work you must jump the fire 7 times. I am not sure if you can believe this legend cause I’ve never tried it myself, so I don’t held any responsibility if you jump any fire during the following days :)
As we usually do, we shut ourselves in at home because I’m more scared than Juno of the fireworks and I prefer to stay safe that night and wish upon a star another one. Nevertheless the party is very popular, specially among kids and teenagers whom can spend hours in front of our home playing with fireworks; we live in a pedestrian street which makes things more attractive and easy.
Another nice thing about this festivity is that the day after the party is a bank holiday so you can sleep a little longer (useful! the night can get quite rough with fireworks’ noise). However as we don’t usually party that night we always try to take advantage of the silent and solitary streets during the next morning to walk around.
Although other years we made the most of the day by having a full-day city outing, the rain kept us yesterday nearer home and we decided to just enjoy some Japanese food in one of our favorite restaurants and see how the neighborhood looked after the storm (both the real and the firework-ish one)
I finally got the jelly shoes (mines are Juju) in glittery clear instead of pink, but they are so comfy I still have the pink option in my head.
A friends’ couple is now visiting Japan, and we are following their trip day by day through Instagram (they are using the hashtag #japantomaca in case you are curious). Therefore the idea of having Japanese food was almost a need – we were craving after their food pics! – and choosing La Cuina de l’Uribou was quite another straightforward selection. L’Uribou is our favorite Izakaya in Barcelona, they have a large blackboard with seasonal dishes and they are never disappointing. I really recommend choosing the seasonal specialities instead of the regular menu at l’Uribou, the chef Taka is always looking how to mix local ingredients with japanese recipes.
The restaurant is named “Uribou” which means baby boar in Japanese, the decoration gives a clue.
Cod & mushroom tempura with calamari ink salt on one side, and iberian secret tataki on the other. We also ate takoyaki which are not pictured but were yummy!
Tan Tan spicy cold soba. Desserts are also not pictured but are one of the strengths at Uribou, I had a sesame brownie.
With a happy belly we went back home making a little detour to cobble together some pictures with our phones when we saw an amazing textured wall on our way: happy find, happy girl! When we arrived home we felt inspired to improvise a little DIY we had been discussing during lunch, soon the reveal.
Although it may look like I’m posing, the wind really was flying the umbrella! And it looks as some kiddo still has the Rian Johnson new on his head, ha!
I’ve never heard of that custom. does the size of the wish correlate with the size of the fire? I’d be afraid to jump through fire, so I had to wish for something small :)
Hahaha, never thought about that but it makes totally sense that the wish goes accordingly to the fire’s size ;) although maybe the 7 jumps are dangerous enough so!
June 23 is St Jean Baptist day here in Quebec, I’m guessing it’s the same thing? Only here St Jean (Saint John) is also considered the patron saint of Quebec and its celebrated as a national holiday. Except that Quebec isn’t technically a nation unto itself, but that’s a whole other discussion. But yeah, celebrations usually involve lots of music, celebrations of Quebecois/francophone culture and fireworks and bonfires. I wonder if the tradition over jumping the fire is the same here because there is a sort of joke about people falling into the fire on St Jean, but I’d always assumed that was because the other thing you do on St Jean is drink a lot. :s
How interesting! I think there must be a link because they share the exact same name and there are firework&bonfires involved :) Unfortunately the similarity with drinking is also there, people should not be encouraged under certain effects to jump 7 times a fire…or is that the only way they would be
brave(fool) enough to do it? :)I’m always the person not jumping over fires at party :P I think we can just wish on dandelions anyway :P I also like how your neck of the woods has super sweet traditions!
Cute outfits, love your shoes Damaris – good pick! And now you guys have got me craving Japanese!! I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not because Japanese isn’t on the menu tonight but maybe tomorrow night it can be :) Look forward to the diy!
I’m with you Fee! Dandelions & stars are a much improved wishing material ;) Do you cook Japanese at home? Although we love it I am only able to cook like three really good recipes and none of them is sushi ;) I’m happy to have so many Japanese restaurants around so we don’t depend on my poor cooking skills ;)
That’s a nice custom, but I’ll be scared to jump even 1 time over the fire ^^ I love your jelly shoes, perfect for the beach!
I know! I am glad there are more fire jumping scaredy cats as myself. Oh! I like to wear also the jelly shoes with rainy weather, I guess my feet feel a little like in the sea? :) :)
we have very similar tradition; jumping over the fire around May – to celebrate the spring! I’ve never tried but we sometimes go to this fest to ser fun scenes :)) someone even get injured while jumping….
I love jelly shoes that I had a pait when I was 6-7. but I don’t remember if they are comfortable, which brand you have?
Oh! I see that jumping fires is a very popular thing around the world… humans! ;) I got my pair of shoes from Topshop but they are from the English brand Juju shoes, and they are more comfortable than I originally thought!
i love dani’s shirt! :) and i’ll have to check out that hashtag. and i love hearing about these holidays and festivities. it sounds fun!
He bought the Star Wars t-shirt in Disneyland California, so it is extra special for both of us! :) thanks!
Love your pictures & love your shoes !
That sounds like a fun holiday with fireworks ^_^
This Japanese restaurant looks good though c; And you
look super cute in that outfit with that umbrella c;
Xx
i love San Juan here in Porto!Come and visit in June :)
Hahaha, I’ll try! :) I’m visiting Portugal in August though (only Sintra), but unfortunately (sad face) I can’t make it to Porto this time, such a pity!
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