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Spanish Festivals and Holidays

Aside from the "usual" holidays and events (Christmas, New Years Day, etc.) Spain has many unique festivals. Some are world famous, whilst some are a little more secret. No matter how widely known, each celebration is important and just as exciting.

Jan 1st	Ano Nuevo (New Year's Day)
Jan 6th	Dia de los Reyes (12th night, when Christmas presents are given
Mar 19th	San Jose (Father's Day)
Variable	Viernes Santo (Good Friday)
Variable	Dia de Pascua (Easter Sunday)
May 1st	Dia del Trabajo (Labour Day)
Jun 24th	San Juan (St.John's Day)
Variable (mid June)	Corpus Christi
Jun 29th	San Pedro y San Pablo (St.Peter & St.Paul)
Jul 25th	Santiago (St.James, patron saint of Spain)
Aug 15th	Asuncion (Assumption)
Oct 12th	Dia de la Hispanidad (Columbus Day)
Nov 1st	Todos los Santos (All Saints Day)
Dec 6th	Dia de la Constitucion (Constitution Day)
Dec 8th	Immaculada Concepcion (Immaculate Conception)
Dec 25th	Navidad (Christmas Day)

January

Day	Place	Event
1st	National	New Year's Day
2nd	Granada	Reconquest Festival - celebrating the Christian conquest of the Moors in 1492
6th	National	Epiphany - Three Kings Day - children receive Christmas presents and candy.
17th	Mallorca and mainland	San Anton - patron saint of domestic animals. Bonfires are lit and demon figures are used. Also celebrated in much of the mainland with bonfires and mounted processions. In Ciudad Real bread rolls are blessed and cockerels auctioned off.
17th	Alicante	Porrat de San Anton. A traditional market selling local products. An animal show and the blessing of the animals in the bullring. Held in the quarter of the city named after the saint.
17th	La Puebla, Majorca	St. Anthony - bonfires, dancing and riotous events
29th	Zaragoza, Aragon	St.Valerus
20th	national	San Sebastian (Saint Stephen)

February

Day	Place	Event
28th	Andalucia	Dia de Andalucia
2nd-5th	Bocairente, Valencia	Re-enactment of struggle between Christians and Moors - parades and fireworks, colourful costumes
11th-Mar21st	Cadiz	Festival de Cadiz - Oldest festival in Spain - parades and colourful costumes
Various	Madrid	Madrid Carnival - masked ball, fancy dress and the burial of a sardine followed by a concert in Plaza Mayor
1st-2nd	Antequera	Candelaria (Night)

March

Day	Place	Event
28th	National	Good Friday
End	National	Easter Monday
31st	Pais Vasco (Basque Country)	Dia de Patria Vasco
3rd	Islas Baleares	Dia de Baleares
12th-19th	Valencia	Fallas de Valencia - fiesta centering around the burning of effigies of winter demons - bullfights and fireworks
12th	Gibraltar (UK)	Commonwealth Day

April

Day	Place	Event
27th	Barcelona	Virgin of Montserrat
23rd	Catalonia	St.George, patron saint of Catalonia
25th	Saucejo, Seville	St.Barbara, patroness of miners
25th	Aragon	San Jorge
23rd	Castilla y Leon	Fiesta de la Castilla y Leon
20th-25th	Seville	Feria de Sevilla - all night Flamenco dancing, bullfights, dancing in the streets and horse riding - the most celebrated event in Spain
Varies	Alcoy, near Alicante	Moros y Christians - battle re-enactment with circus-like atmosphere
28th-April 4th	Seville and National	Holy week - processions and floats
26th-29th	Andujar (Jaen)	Romeria - the oldest festival in Spain and of National interest
1st	Calatayud, Aragon	Sunday of San Lazaro
Thursday following Easter week	Alicante	Pilgrimage of the Holy Visage. A very important and popular event when 200,000 people holding pilgrimage canes walk to the Monastery of Santa Faz to worship at the shrine. They have picnic lunches and a large arts and crafts market is held.

May

Day	Place	Event
11th	Barcelona	Day of Sant Ponc, patron saint of herbalists
1st	National	Labour Day
2nd	Madrid	Dia de Comunidad de Madrid
31st	Castilla-La-Mancha	Dia de Comunidad de Castilla-La-Mancha
30th	Canarias	Dia de Canarias
First two weeks	Cordoba	Festival de los Patios - residents decorate their patios with cascades of flowers and visitors wander from patio to patio
12th-21st	Madrid	Fiesta de San Isidro - 10 day celebration of the patron saint - parties, parades, bullfights and dances
9th-16th	Jerez de la Frontera	Horse Fair - greatest horses in the world on parade
15th	Estepona, Malaga	San Isidro's Day
2nd Sunday	Antequera	Romeria day
1-3rd	Alicante	May Crosses (Cruces de Mayo). The Santa Cruz quarter dresses with sweet smelling crosses made from flowers. The finest win awards and dances and games are organised.

June

Day	Place	Event
24th	National	Saint John (San Juan) see below
23rd	Catalonia	Dia de Sant Joan
	Carrion de los Cespedes, Seville	Corpus Christi fiesta
9th	La Rioja	Dia de La Rioja
9th	Murcia	Dia de la Region
All	Madrid	Veranos de la Villa - dancing, music and concerts, often free of charge - all summer long
6th	National	Corpus Christi - big parades especially in Toledo, Malaga, Granada and Seville
20th	Alicante	St.John's Bonfires - bonfires through the night signal 5 days of festivities - business in Alicante comes to a standstill
24th	National	San Juan - Celebrated with bonfires on the beach, lasting all night through the night of the 23rd. At midnight everyone rushes into the sea to symbolise the baptisms by John the Baptist. The theory is that you wash your feet in the sea to cleanse your sins. There is also the tradition of jumping the bonfire, to burn away your sins (or something like that).

July

Day	Place	Event
29th	Los Morales, Seville	St.Marta, local patron saint
28th	Cantabria	Dia de Cantabria
25th	Galicia	Santiago Apostle
First weekend	San Lorenzo, Galicia	A Rapa das Bestas - capture and branding of wild horses from the hills attracts equestrian lovers from all over Europe
Early July	Pamplona	Running of the bulls - most popular event in Spain where bulls are released into the streets - also features other events - known as Fiesta de San Fermin
22nd-25th	Antequera	Feria de Santiago
	Benidorm	Song Festival
13th-22nd	LaLinea	Annual Feria week based on Virgen del Carmen. Town's anniversary on the 20th.
16th	Estepona	Virgen del Carmen: Annual feast of the fishermen when the waters are blessed and the Virgen is carried to sea in a procession
14th Aprox	Sotogrande	Polo season begins.
3rd-8th	Estepona	Annual Feria with large fun fair.
13th	Fuengirola	Annual Feria at the Sohail Castle.
16th	Alicante	Virgen del Carmen: Annual celebration when the fishing port comes alive to mark their patron saint. Events spread to the Island of Tabarca.

August

Day	Place	Event
15th	National	Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Middle	Malaga, Andalucia	Feria de Malaga - 10 day long fair - fireworks, horses and gallons of wine
Last Wednesday	Bunol, Valencia	La Tomatina (Battle of the Tomatoes). Tons of fruit thrown between warring towns and villages - followed by music and dancing
18-25th	Antequera, Andalucia	Fiesta de la Recoleccion - bullfights, shows, parties and cattle market
11-15th	Benahavis, Andalucia	Virgen del Rosario - Sevillian mass and procession
4-5th	Benalauria	Moors and Christians - Bonfires are lit and a castle is built
All	Ojen, Andalucia	Festival of Flamenco singing
July & August	Antequera, Andalucia	Flamenco
16th	Calatayud, Aragon	San Roque
27th	Tarazona	San Atilano

September

Day	Place	Event
17th	Melilla	Dia de Malilla
2nd	Ceuta	Dia de Ceuta
11th	Catalonia	Dia Nacional de Cataluna - flag waving and demonstrations celebrating the region's independence
3rd	Navarra	Dia de Navarra
8th	Asturias	Dia de Asturias
8th	Extremadura	Dia de Extremadura
24th	Barcelona	Festival Setmana Cran - patron saint's day - evening mass followed by a procession to the cathedral then finishing at the harbour
8th	Antequera	Feria de la Patrona Ntra.Sra. de las Virtudes
5-8th	Alicante	Virgen del Socorro. The Ravel quarter organises a feast in honour of it's patron saint. The fiesta includes cooking competitions, a procession, games and dances.

October

Day	Place	Event
9th	Valencia	Dia de Comunidad Valenciana
12th	Zaragoza	Day of El Pilar, procession of giant figures
	Zaragoza	Samples fair

November

Day	Place	Event
1st	National	All Saints Day - relatives lay flowers on graves of the dead

December

Day	Place	Event
25th	National	Christmas Day
26th	National	Saint Stephen
6th	National	Constitution Day
8th	National	Immaculate Conception
28th	National	Dia de los Santos Inocentes - similar to Fools Day which is just an excuse to do silly things

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