São João Festival more local this year

The 12th edition of the São João [Saint John] Festival was held over the weekend in the Saint Lazarus district, welcoming partygoers who joined in with the celebrations.

This year’s edition was impacted by the heavy rainfall that affected Macau on Friday and Saturday.  According to organizers, that made the event more challenging to hold, particularly in regards to the setup of the street party on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday, but the celebration was still considered successful.

With “less participation of tourists” noted by many, the party rebalanced with a presence of locals that was highlighted to the Times. “What matters is the celebration itself,” a group of local Portuguese and Macanese said while singing, sipping beers and waiting for a barbecued sardine.

In fact, the sardines (a must- have element for such celebrations) were one of the only elements that caused a little concern, especially on the first day, the organization noted. “This year, and contrary to [earlier] editions, the IAMC (Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau) didn’t allow us to barbecue the sardines the traditional way [charcoal grilled],” one of the cooks on duty confided to the Times. “We have to use electric grillers… Well, in a way, it’s faster to cook, but the taste isn’t the same,” he noted.

As for the partygoers, although they noted the difference, they remarked, “The most important [thing] is the gathering of the community.”

Maria Amélia António, president of the association Casa de Portugal, said this year’s edition would aim to exhibit “quality” and “tradition,” a wish that seems to have been fulfilled. Most of the stalls looked professionally decorated and offered a wide range of products. Some of them displayed several sources of information on the products on sale in trilingual versions (Portuguese, English and Chinese), making sure that no one would be excluded.
It was noted that there were apparently less people this year, especially in regards to tourists, but attendees also noted that there were more locals that “filled that space” and “the same great atmosphere.”

Local residents Donald Heung and his girlfriend told the Times, “We come every year since four or five years ago,” adding with laughter that the reason they come to the event is “craving for foods mostly,” but that it is also a “nice place to come on a Sunday afternoon.”

Coming from Guangdong province, the Zhang couple found the party “by chance as they were exploring the city” with their young child.
Zhang told the Times that he was attracted by the people and the smell of the barbecued sardines, but he confessed he did not know what they were. His wife then asked about the fish and, upon discovering that they were sardines, he felt compelled to “try.” He said, “I have eaten sardines before but only the [canned] ones, never like this.” In his opinion they “are more tasty [barbecued].”

Walking along the Calçada de S. Lazaro were the Mok sisters, Viviana and Wanda, local residents with Portuguese ancestry. The sisters told the Times that they had come to the event to support family members who are operating one of the stalls that sells Portuguese and Macanese snacks and drinks.

Although neither of them can speak Portuguese, they have Portuguese heritage and find in the events of the Portuguese and Macanese communities a “way to connect to our roots.”

“We both have a Portuguese passport and our mother speaks Portuguese but we don’t,” they said, adding, “We like very much the food as well as the atmosphere of these events [in which they also included the Lusophonia Festival]. We usually don’t miss it.”

As for the event, it continued in a lively fashion with several performances from local and Portuguese artists, which helped to keep the visitors in the St Lazarus district entertained for a while.