MY NIGHT AT THE HOGUERAS: LIVING THE NOCHE DE SAN JUAN IN CABANYAL (PHOTOGRAPHIC REPORT)

There’s a moment, somewhere between the third bonfire and midnight, when you stop feeling like a spectator at Valencia’s Noche de San Juan and start feeling like you’re actually part of something ancient. I spent the night on Cabanyal beach, and it completely lived up to everything I had read and heard about it before I went.

The energy on the sand was unlike anything I have experienced here so far. Families, friend groups, couples, all packed onto the same stretch of beach, all gathered around their own fires, and somehow it never felt overwhelming, just alive. As the sun went down, the wood the city had distributed earlier in the evening was already burning in bonfires up and down the shore, and the smell of smoke mixed with the sea air is something I will not forget.

I jumped over a bonfire myself, three times, the traditional number for burning away the troubles of the past year, and felt slightly ridiculous and completely happy doing it surrounded by strangers doing the exact same thing. Around midnight, I waded into the Mediterranean with what felt like half of Valencia, the water lit up only by the bonfires and a hundred phone flashlights along the shoreline. It was cold, loud, and honestly one of the most fun moments I have had during this internship.

Just before midnight, fireworks went off over the water, and for a few minutes the whole beach turned to watch, fire on the sand and fireworks in the sky at the same time.

The city’s official numbers from the night put attendance at around 75,000 people on Valencia’s beaches, and cleanup crews collected 58 tons of waste from the sand by morning, numbers that genuinely match how packed Cabanyal felt in person. There was a visible police and emergency presence throughout the night, which made sense given how many people were there. However, on the ground it felt festive rather than tense and more about community than chaos.

By the time I left, well past midnight, I understood why this night gets talked about the way it does. It is not a polished, ticketed festival. It is loud, smoky, a little chaotic, and completely unforgettable. If there is one Valencian tradition I would tell anyone visiting this summer not to miss, it is this one.

Report by Faith Callaway