On the night of 23 June, at the summer solstice, the fire is lit. The fallaires spin the falles — burning torches — fast enough to draw great balls of fire that light up the shortest night of the year. It is an ancient ritual common to the whole Pyrenees, shared by villages in Andorra, Catalonia, Aragon, Occitania and beyond.
In 2015 the Falles de Sant Joan of Andorra la Vella were inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, within the multinational nomination of the summer solstice fire festivals in the Pyrenees. It is the country's great mark of cultural standing.
How it is lived
The big night is in Andorra la Vella, where the fallaires come down spinning fire in front of thousands of people. The festival runs into the Sant Joan midsummer night and, a few weeks later, into the cycle of summer village festivals.