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Kali

(55,021 posts)
Wed Jun 24, 2015, 08:41 PM Jun 2015

it might even rain!

http://www.visittucson.org/includes/calendar-of-events/Dia-De-San-Juan-Festival/498/?fromMenu=935

A traditional start of Tucson's summer, Dia de San Juan celebrates the coming monsoon rain season and honors St. John the Baptist (patron saint of water). Highlights include a ceremonial procession and the blessing of an altar--the public is welcome to join in the procession. Activities include a charreada (Mexican rodeo events), performances by mariachi bands and folklorico dancers. Mexican cowboys and trick horse-riders (charros and escaramuzas) perform on horseback. There are games and activities for children and families, and vendors of food and refreshments for sale and free information. Staged at the corner of Congress Street and Avenida del Convento, west of downtown Tucson, at the Mercado San Agustin retail and restaurant plaza.


about: http://tucson.com/news/blogs/big-jim/big-jim-el-d-a-de-san-juan/article_1963ed22-cb14-11e2-8346-0019bb2963f4.html

June 24 is el día de San Juan, St John the Baptist’s Day, in the Catholic calendar. It was St. John who baptized Jesus in the River Jordan, thus marking the beginning of His ministry. This is why so many of the Mexican traditions associated with this day involve water, and especially running water.

<snip>

El día de San Juan is also used for weather prediction. If the summer rains start on the 24th of June, that is a sign that they will be long-lasting and copious. That has seldom happened in my experience; it seems a bit early for that to happen up here. If they even start shortly after the 24th, that’s a good sign.

But if it rains — really rains — all over the valley before el día de San Juan, that is a sign that the saint is trying to warn us about something terrible. “What kind of terrible thing?” I asked my friend Richard Morales. “Oh, famine, pestilence, that sort of thing,” he replied.

Fortunately, there is a traditional hedge to this dire prophecy. The rain must come just before the 24th, I am told, and isolated showers won’t do. It has to rain all over.
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