Procession begins series of SJB holiday events
Each holiday season, the streets of San Juan Bautista glow and
flicker just one night as community members and visitors gather for
the annual Caroling and Candlelight Tour.
Procession begins series of SJB holiday events
Each holiday season, the streets of San Juan Bautista glow and flicker just one night as community members and visitors gather for the annual Caroling and Candlelight Tour.
This year’s tour took place Saturday, Dec. 8, starting in front of Mission San Juan at the State Historic Park and wending its way through the downtown area. Participants sang carols as they strolled through town, some dressed in 19th Century period clothes.
Upon returning to the park, the group shared refreshments. Like all the best Christmas traditions, the event was free.
Tonight, Dec. 14, families will gather again for one of San Juan’s most venerable traditions, the Holiday Bonfire and Christmas Celebration. The San Juan Service Club each year just after dark ignites an enormous bonfire in the field between the Community Center and Mission San Juan. People circle the fire before Santa Claus pulls in atop a fire engine.
Not long after, the group convenes to the Mission Teaching Center where children can visit with Santa. The boys and girls who have been good can count on gifts from Santa, with the help of the Service Club.
The fire will be lit around 6 p.m., according to Larry Cain of the Service Club.
On Dec. 22 people will gather before dawn outside Mission San Juan to observe first light on the winter solstice. Soon after the group gathers at 6:30 a.m., the sun will edge above the horizon, beginning the shortest day of the year.
For many years, the secret of Mission San Juan’s design was lost, but a few years ago, it was discovered that on a sunny dawn on the solstice, the first light enters the church and lights the central altar.
This event, too, is free of charge.
