Porto celebrates the summer and a beloved saint with plastic hammers, sardines and leeks
PORTO, Portugal (AP) — On Porto's steep streets, several thousands of people celebrated the summer in the way the city has been doing it for decades and centuries: by bonking friends and strangers alike with toy hammers and reveling in the streets all night.
A Christian holiday with pagan roots, the eve of the feast of St. John the Baptist is celebrated with fireworks, balloons and lots of grilled sardines. An older St. John's Eve ritual in Portugal's second-biggest city involved buying leek flowers believed to bring good fortune and inviting strangers to sniff the pungent plant.
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