January
1 Año Nuevo – New Year – ¡Feliz año Nuevo! – Happy New Year!
6 Epifania - Epiphany. This is when the 3 Kings (los reyes magos) found Jesus in the stable to give him their gifts. In Spain this is when children get their Christmas presents. On the evening of the 5th there are parades in the towns as the 3 Kings make their way to Bethlehem to visit baby Jesus. There are people on the accompanying floats throwing sweets to the children. Sometimes there are camels and horses. There can be wagons with wrapped presents on them. The children are told that the kings will deliver presents to their houses by midnight. They have to leave polished shoes in the windows to let them know where there are children. Sometimes they leave out water for the camels. In the morning children find their shoes filled with sweets and chocolates and presents around the shoes. The family has a special breakfast with a cake called Roscon. It contains a hidden token. The person who finds it will be very lucky for the coming year.

February
14 is St Valentine’s day – on this day couples exchange presents

March
19 San Jose – Father’s Day
Semana Santa - Holy week. This is the week before Easter and there are religious parades in many cities, especially in Andalucía. The participants wear hooded robes and they carry statues of Mary and Jesus.
Jueves santo – Maundy Thursday
Viernes santo – Good Friday
Pascua – Easter
Felices pascuas – Happy Easter
Easter is more important than Christmas in Spain

April
Feria de Abril - Sevilla

May
1 Fiesta del Trabajo - Labour Day
2 Madrid Day - to commemorate the independence of Spain
First Sunday in May – Mother’s Day
15 Corpus Christi - holiday in Madrid City.

June
24 San Juan

July
7 San Fermín, Pamplona - There is a continuous party for a week with parades and singing and dancing. There are big papier maché giants which are paraded through the streets. Every morning of the week bulls are set free to run through the streets to a bull ring. Young men run ahead of the bulls to show how brave they are. It is only for the very fit. This week of bullfighting and running the bulls was popularised and promoted by American Nobel Prize Winner Ernest Hemingway in his novel Fiesta)
25 Santiago apostol - Saint James’ Day, the Patron Saint of Spain. People go on pilgrimages by following the road to St James (Santiago) to the Cathedral at Compestela. (Bank Holiday).
29 San Pedro, fiestas en Burgos

August
Semana Grande en Bilbao
15 Asunción de la Virgen Maria - Ascension Day (Bank Holiday)

September
Children go back to school and fiestas de La vendimia in La Rioja

October
12 Dia de la Hispanidad - Spanish National Day and America Day (12 Oct 1492 Columbus discovered America) (Bank Holiday).

November
1 Todos los Santos - All Saints’ Day (Bank Holiday)
2 Todos los Difuntos - All Dead People Day

December
6 Dia de la Constitucion Española – Constitution Day (Bank Holiday)
8 Immaculada Concepción
Things generally begin to slow down until 6th January (Bank Holiday).
22 El Gordo – This is a big lottery which is always held on this date.
24 Nochebuena – Christmsa Eve – Large supper followed by midnight mass
25 Navidad – Christmas, ¡Feliz Navidad! – Happy Christmas. Christmas is celebrated with a big dinner around 10pm and is a sort of family reunion (Bank Holiday).
28 Dia de los Innocentes – remembers the slaughter of children under 2 by King Herod.
31 Nochevieja – New Year’s Eve – People are given 12 grapes just before midnight. To ensure good luck you have to eat one for every strike of the clock at midnight.