O Maior São João do Mundo

The festival

Its name is a program: "O Maior São João do Mundo", the world's largest Saint John. Since 1983, Campina Grande, in Paraíba, has transformed her Parque do Povo into the capital of the junina festival for more than a month — 33 days in 2026, from June 3 to July 5, more than one hundred shows and some 3.5 million visitors expected. On the menu: forró pe-de-serra, spectacular quadrilles including the giant Quadrilhao, a collective wedding in the middle of a feast, fires of Saint John and corn gastronomy.

The city disputes every year in Caruaru, its rival of Pernambuk, the title of the largest São João of Brazil — a bell tower quarrel that both cities have with pride, and which makes June the most festive month of the Nordest.