Festa Junina at Mac's School

Background information on Festa Junina from wikipedia.com:

Festa Junina, typically termed São João (Saint John) as it is centered on that saint's day, is the name of annual Brazilian celebrations (historically related to the Midsummer and Saint John festivities in Europe) which take place in the beginning of the Brazilian winter, consequently during the European summer. It's mainly celebrated on the following days of the Catholic feast of Saint Anthony, John the Baptist and Saint Peter.

The festival also celebrates rural life and features typical clothing, food, dance (particularly quadrilha, which is similar to square dancing). Usually taking place in an arraial, a large, open space outdoors, men dress up as farm boys with suspenders and large straw hats and women wear pigtails, freckles, painted gap teeth and red-checkered dresses, all in a loving tribute to the origins of Brazilian country music, and of themselves, some of whom are recent immigrants from the countryside to cities such as Olinda, Recife, Maceió and Salvador, and some of whom return to the rural areas during that season to visit family.

However, nowadays, São João festivities are extremely popular in all urban areas and among all social classes. In the Northeast, they are as popular as Carnival. It should be noted that, like during Carnival, these festivities involve costume-wearing (in this case, peasant costumes), dancing, drinking, and visual spectacles (fireworks display and folk dancing). Like the original European Midsummer celebrations, during the two-week June festivities in Brazil, bonfires are lit. They can be seen everywhere in northeastern cities.

São João coincides with the corn harvest. Special dishes served during São João are made with corn, such as canjica and pamonha. Dishes may also include peanuts, potatoes sausages and rice. The celebrations are very colorful and festive and include amazing pyrotechnics. Bonfires and fire in general are thus one of the most important features of these festivities, a feature that is among the remnants of Midsummer pagan rituals in the Iberian Peninsula.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festa_Junina"

So now that you have the background information, Mac's school, Chapel, had its Festa Junina Saturday afternoon. This was our first Festa Junina, and it was an experience that started earlier in the week, when I had to buy Mac's caipira outfit. Caipira means something like a cross between cowboy and country bumpkin so Mac didn't have to draw too far down into his gene pool to pull this off. I've now learned that you can buy these outfits cheap at Wal-Mart, but I got rooked at the fancy kids' store for this awful plaid shirt that comes with patches that you sew onto jeans. At least they throw in an enormous straw hat for free because I guess they feel so bad about robbing you blind.

Mac, the Caipira

The girls love a caipira!

The festival was filled with dancing by different classes (including Mac's); carnival games like fishing and the ring toss; a lot of food; a bouncy castle, petting zoo, and pony rides; a bonfire and fireworks; and, last but not least, the mechanical bull. Mac couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to try this, but finally he did. We're thinking if a professional sports career doesn't work out like Jimmy hopes, maybe the rodeo?

Mac as a caipira bullrider