The present research analyzes two inter-related possibilities involving the St. John Festival: leisure and religion. It aims at identifying the significant aspects of the popular participation provided by the "St. John Festival", which takes place in Tupi (a district of the city of Piracicaba, in the countryside of São Paulo) and also at checking the dimension of leisure experienced and provided by those who organize or take active part in the festival. This is a case study and the city was chosen in a non-probabilistic way, following criteria of representativeness and accessibility. The work made use of a combination of literature review, documentary and field research. The techniques used were: literature analysis, content analysis, participant observation with the use of a field journal, and structured interviews. The study confirms that the festival is a leisure activity and analyses show that there are relations between leisure and religion and these can take over several forms.
Festival; Leisure; Religion