Las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián (San Sebastían Street Festival) is the street fair in beautiful Old San Juan that ends Puerto Rico’s Christmas season, the world’s longest.
It’s Puerto Rico’s most popular festival. Locals call it the SanSe. [It’s a little joke. Sanse is Puerto Rican slang for a West African faith based on forces of nature that is popular in the Caribbean. Trust me. It’s all good.]
Calle San Sebastían is a beautiful colonial street of bars and restaurants. The festival also includes a street fair of Puerto Rican artisans. The party spills over into La Perla, the beloved shanty town along the ocean just beyond the city’s walls.
La Factoría, one of the world’s 50 best bars, is on Calle San Sebastían. It is one of the best places to dance salsa in San Juan.
Puerto Ricans come to the SanSe from all over the island and across the diaspora. It’s the time to be home. If the walls of the city could talk, there would be many wonderful stories to tell. It’s probably a good thing that walls don’t talk. 🥳🥳
Las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastían 2024
The party is Thursday-Sunday, January 18-21, 2024.
Puerto Rico Has the World’s Longest Christmas Season
Christmas season starts in Puerto Rico on November 19, Discovery Day. Things build up past Christmas to Three Kings Day, the Latin gift-giving day.
The season continues with Las Octavitas, the octave of Three Kings. Octaves are a remnant of colonial Catholicism which celebrated festivals for eight days, not just one. Celebrating las Octavitas remains part of Puerto Rican identity.
Las Octavitas gets us to the SanSe. ¡WEPA!
Then we all go back to work, counting the days until next November.