Bahia is a party all over the year. There’s a succession of festivals, concentrated in the summer, but extended for the whole year, including St. John’s Festival. The folkloric displays, of different origins, proliferate in outdoors exhibitions of capoeira, maculelê and samba-de-roda. Thousands of people go to the streets to celebrate the patron saints. Besides being popular, these festivals are characterized by the religious syncretism and the blending of sacred and profane elements.

All the faith of Bahia’s people is displayed during the cycle of festivals, from the celebrations of Candomblé’s Orixás, when all the terreiros in the city play their drums to make their believers dance, to the festivals of the Catholics, which receive a profane touch with samba-de-roda and the stands that serve a variety of drinks and food.

This festive atmosphere impregnates the entire city, from morning to night, but in the beginning of December the program is intensified. The cycle begins on December 4th, with Saint Barbara’s Festival and has its climax on Bonfim’s Festival, Iemanjá’s Festival and Carnival. Nowadays the most traditional ones are: Bom Jesus dos Navegantes, Bonfim’s Festival and Iemanjá. See below the festive calendar:
 

Calendar:

Santa Bárbara – December 4th 
Conceição da Praia – December 8th
Bom Jesus dos Navegantes – January 1st 
Bonfim’s Festival (changeable date) – 2nd Thursday of January
Ribeira’s Festival (changeable date) – the first Monday after Bonfim’s festival
Iemanjá’s Festival – February 2nd
Itapuã’s Festival (changeable date) – one week after Carnival