Festa San Juan

Portuguese community light candles to herald Festa San Juan

Every year during the latter part of June, the Portuguese-Eurasian homes at the Portuguese Settlement, Praya Lane and Kampung Banda Hilir have little white candles lit on verandas, balconies and atop picket fences as twilight sets in.

These numerous mini flames herald the Festa San Juan (Feast of St John the Baptist) which falls on June 23.

This year’s feast celebration which is part and parcel of the week-long Festa San Pedro (Feast of St Peter, the patron saint of fishermen), was launched by Ronald Gan, assistant chairman of the Banda Hilir constituency development committee at the Medan Portugis sited within the 80-year-old Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir.

Following an Eucharistic religious service at the settlement community hall, a small bonfire was lit at the square and members of the Irmaos de Igreja (Brothers of the Church) lighted their wicker torches. They then walked to all homes in the settlement lighting up little white candles set on fences and gates at sunset.

According to the settlement’s regedor (headman) Peter Gomes, the ritual of using lighted candles to observe the feast was adopted from the Portuguese when they occupied Malacca from 1511 to 1641.

“St John the Baptist is described as the forerunner evangelist prior to the coming of Christ. Hence, the lighted candles signify this saint who led the way during the time of pagan communities,” he explained.

In the early 1950s and 1960s, when Praya Lane and Kampung Banda Hilir witnessed a large number of Portuguese-Eurasian families moving to the area and with fishing as a dominant livelihood, the residents wore green pyjamas on the night of the feast day while during the day their children were all dressed in similar coloured clothing.

It is said that green represented the community’s innocence, purity and rejuvenation. It is also believed that when St John was beheaded, children who visited his tomb were dressed in green and carried lighted candles in homage.

Former long-time Praya Lane resident Anthony Fernandez, 67, recalled that in the old days a mini food fair and the performance of the popular ‘Branyo’ (a traditional Portuguese song-dance routine similar to Malay ronggeng) were the main highlights.

“However, with many of the Portuguese-Eurasian Catholic residents moving out of Praya Lane and Kampung Banda Hilir from the early 1970s onwards, the feast day celebration is somewhat diluted.

“Later, the Portuguese Settlement took over organising the festival and combined it with the San Pedro festival, which eventually got listed on the state tourism calendar.” said Fernandez, who now lives in Banda Hilir.

Another practice of the feast day still adhered to until today is the making of Kanjee Munggu, a sweet delicacy made from mung beans. This sweets is only made on the feast day and is eaten in Portuguese-Eurasian households at tea time.

Notes from the book Survival Through Times, authored by the late Portuguese cleric Fr M.J. Pintado who served and lived in Malacca from the late 1950s, state: “At the height of the Portuguese occupation of the state, the feast of St John the Baptist was observed in grand fashion. A prayer service was then held at the chapel atop St John’s Hill, located midway between Praya Lane and the Portuguese Settlement where hundreds would gather to pray and feast in picnic-like atmosphere until the late hours of the night.”

-News courtesy of The Star-