Tradition Dera Gai

An Aruban tradition celebrated every year on June 24. History tells that San Juan festivities occur on the southern part of Mexico and came to Guatemala and other countries in Central America to Venezuela and passed on to Aruba.

Aruba celebrates San Juan in a unique way. San Juan celebrations in the early times had more to do with superstition. The purpose of the festival is for the harvest ,it was to thank the many gods for good harvest year and to request them to harvest the next year.

During the festivities, there were various games, like jumping over the fire, traditional dancing, singing, stories and jokes told, this is done all around the fire. This festival was something big in Aruba  it was a holiday. In the past on June 23  the workers got the afternoon off, and June 24 all day.

The tradition to bury  a live cock  (buried = dera gai = rooster) was very common in those days. Today it is simply unimaginable to do that.

In Santa Cruz a century ago, they changed the party a bit. They no longer use a live cock, but instead turned it into a flag of different colors :  red, white, blue , green, and yellow flag with red border. These flags are then placed on a table. Then several participants would be blind folded and have to try to  grab the flag when the signal is given. Whoever grabs the flag first wins.