Spain celebrates many national and regional holidays and festivals.
In Spain, almost the entire country shuts down for important holidays. Holidays are celebrated on the exact day of the holiday, rather than being moved around to create three-day weekends. Many regions of Spain also celebrate local festivals and holidays, many of which are linked to Spain's dominant religion, Catholicism.
Epiphany
Epiphany, which falls on January 6 and commemorates the visit of the Three Kings to the baby Jesus, is a national holiday in Spain. The Three Kings parade is held the evening of January 5, and children leave out food and drink for the Kings and their camels. On the morning of Epiphany, children find presents left for them by the Three Kings.
Las Fallas and Father's Day
Las Fallas originally began in the city of Valencia as a holiday in March paying tribute to St. Joseph, but it has changed during the last 100 years. Now people make papier-mâch effigies of celebrities, which are burned on the last day of the week long festival. Elsewhere in Spain, March 20, St. Joseph's Day, is celebrated as Spain's Father's Day, and is a national holiday.
Holy Week and Easter Festivities
Holy Week, or Semana Santa, is celebrated in Seville with solemn parades filled with floats and people wearing masks. Many other cities and villages in Spain also stage pageants to commemorate Holy Week. Following Easter, La Feria de Abril is a week long celebration featuring amusement rides, flamenco singing and dancing and fireworks.
Labor Day and Community Day
May 1, Labor Day, is a national holiday. Protests are often held on behalf of the worker, and anarchists sometimes stage violent demonstrations. It is followed by Community Day on May 2, in which each community in Spain celebrates its uniqueness.
Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi is celebrated in Toledo, Castilla and La Mancha on May 29. It is a feast day dedicated to celebrating the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and dates back to the 14th century.
The Running of the Bulls
The Fiesta of St. Fermin is celebrated in Pamplona in July. The day is best known for the Running of the Bulls, in which people allow themselves to be chased by bulls through the city's streets.
Santiago
July 25 is the feast day for Santiago, the patron saint of Spain. It is a national holiday celebrated with fireworks, a televised mass and parades.
Feast of the Assumption
The Feast of the Assumption, or La Asuncion, is a national holiday celebrating the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. The holiday is celebrated from August 11 to August 15 and includes parades featuring pictures of the Virgin Mary.
La Tomatina
La Tomatina is a holiday celebrating the patron saint of Buñol, a town outside Valencia. Thousands of people take part in a giant food fight in which they throw tomatoes at each other for two hours, with the local governments supplying the tomatoes.
Columbus Day
October 12, Columbus Day, is Spain's national holiday, or the Día de la Hispanidad. It commemorates the day Christopher Columbus set foot on the Americas, and is celebrated with an enormous parade in Madrid and other festivities throughout the country.
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