Festa Julina

Brazilians are running out of excuses to have parties. Last month was Festa Junina, Little June Party and this month is, you guessed it, Festa Julina, Little July Party.
I asked my friend to clarify the matter of their origins. She matter-of-factly responded,
"Festa Junina is a party for the month of June, but Festa Julina is the fake one, it's just a party for the month of July."
"What's the difference?" I incredulously asked
" I don't know. Some History" She logically replied. (Brazilians confuse History and Story. Same word in Portuguese. Makes for comical situations, for example "Let me tell you a history!")
So the least you need to know about Festa Junina, and Julina for that matter are they are parties in the months of June and July that celebrate the Northeastern Caipira (bumpkin) rural culture of Brazil. Women wear gaudy, multicolored polka-dotted or quilt-patterned dresses, dot their cheeks with freckles, and braid their hair in pig tails that leave them resembling Pippy Long-Stocking. Men don goofy straw hats, slip into plaid/checkered long sleeve shirts accompanied by overalls, (which I beleive to be inspired by the grunge movement of the 90s), black out their teeth and paint fake moustaches.
The colorful, streaming ribbons that hung at the Festa Julina my condominium threw this past Saturday were a familiar scene for me after attending similar parties for the past two months. Thankfully the food didn't stray far from that recipe and it didn't disappoint: popcorn, hot dogs, soda, cake, peanuts, and a piping-hot styrofoam cup of Quentão (see Festa do Pinhão to jog your memory.) All that was missing was a rickety ferris wheel and a couple of midgets and I swear you could have told me I was at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds in Gaithersburg and I would have believed you.

Here's video from a famous Festa Junina celebration from the Northeast of Brazil, where it all got started. (Sorry about the ad preceding the video. That's Globo for you.)