![]() ![]() The skies, however, had yet to clear, and maybe it was this, their colour, that turned my mind to Cornwall. To my left, finches gold and green flitted over and among the vines, while ahead of me on the path, swallows swooped back and forth like stray fireworks. Alone, that is, except for the birds, who seemed to be relishing the freshness of the storm-swept air. It also felt good to be alone after so much companionship the previous evening. Unripe pods on a carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua)Īs the carob is also known as St John’s bread it seemed fitting to be following this path on his feast day. The dirt track I chose is lined to the west by carob trees, and at this time of year they are festooned with unripe glossy-green pods. When the storm cleared I went out to walk some of the trails that wind their way through the vineyards, scrub and woodland that surround Sant Pere de Ribes. ![]() In contrast to the light and spark of the night before, the town awoke to slate-grey skies, and around midday an intense storm blew in over the Mediterranean, rinsing the air of the gunpowder perfume that had hung heavy into the early hours. As I walked home just before midnight on St John’s Eve, the streets around the main square of my Catalan hometown, Sant Pere de Ribes, were still alive to the sound of snappers, whistling rockets and conviviality. Today, however, la flama de Canigó is relayed freely throughout the land on both sides of the mountains, and St John’s Day is now a national holiday in Catalonia. As a symbol of a cultural identity that refused to be extinguished despite the prohibitions set in place by Franco’s dictatorship, la flama had considerable value, yet not until 1966 would the torch pass south of the Pyrenees. John’s fires could be lit in succession throughout the Catalan lands. The idea that followed was that a torch lit from the fire could serve as a mother flame, la flama, from which St. What made Pujades’ initiative stand out was that his fire burned at an altitude of 2,784 m, at the summit of the Canigó. On 23 June 1955, Francesc Pujades, a resident of Arles-sur-Tech, took it upon himself to continue a centuries-old European tradition by lighting a bonfire to mark the eve of St John’s Day. These lands at the southernmost end of the Languedoc-Roussillon region have deep connections to Catalonia, both its language and traditions. Arles-sur-Tech is a small town at the eastern end of the French Pyrenees, and it is overshadowed to the north by the Canigó massif. ![]()
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