Beer Festival in Barcelona
The first beer festival in Barcelona was held only in 2012. It's not so surprising: Spain does not really fit in with the image of the beer state. But Barcelona is not Spain, Barcelona is Catalonia. And if it's true, then Barcelona is Barcelona
Fallas
Fallas is a holiday of spring, which is held annually from March 14 to 19 in the Spanish province of Valencia. Its name comes from Latin fax, which means "torch". Like all national celebrations, the Festival of Fallas Spaniards celebrate at a high pace.
Semana Santa
Many countries have their own symbolic holidays, what you remember when you hear the name. Semana Santa - is the soul of Spain, its symbolic religiosity, splendor, and during the pre-Easter Holy Week to get acquainted with this soul come hundreds of thousands of people.
Formula-1
Formula-1 - the most important and most prestigious event in the world of racing, rightfully called the "queen of motorsport", has long become the dream of almost every rider in the world, and, in addition, is also the most expensive kind of motorsport.
Festival Sonar
Imagine a hundred dance clubs, simultaneously rattling a sultry night in the open air of Barcelona. This is "Sonar" - one of the largest festivals of electronic music and multimedia arts.
San Juan Feast
At the end of June, Spain freezes in anticipation of the shortest night of the year. And no wonder! It is from 23 to 24 June that the country celebrates San Juan. For the Spaniards this is a favorite event of the summer season. It is interesting that the holiday is in many respects similar to the usual holiday of Ivan Kupala.
Festival of jumping through children
Adult men change their red and yellow suits and jump over the babies. An unknown ritual is taking place in the autonomous region of Castile and Leon in north-west Spain since 1620. The idea of El Colacho is that jumpers dressed in diabolical suits and personify satanic evil.
San Fermin
This Spanish cheerful and at the same time cruel holiday once conquered Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway, and since the writer sang of San Fermin in his book "And the sun rises", the festival has become extremely popular. Although spend it Spaniards for 8 centuries.
Benicassim Festival
Like every popular European festival, Benicassim began with the same thought in two music lovers. These heads belong to Spanish journalists and the owners of the club in combination, who in 1994 decided and in a year gathered in one place the musical underground of their country.
The Feast of St. Anne in Seville
In July, in one of the districts of Seville, Triana, located on the other side of the river, there will be celebrations in honor of St. Anne. During the holiday, you can spend wonderful evenings listening to concerts held in the open air and in bars, watching the locals.
Feast of St. James in Santiago de Compostela
From year to year, pilgrims arrive in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on the feast of St. James, which takes place from 24 to 25 July. The night before the celebration, an exciting laser show with music and fireworks lighting the main cathedral of the city in Obradoiro Square is arranged.
Bullfighting in Spain
Bullfighting is not just a fight, as it might seem at first glance, it is a whole spectacle, a mesmerizing action that has its own rules and rituals. The President or the Chairman, in whose role the Mayor of the city usually acts, is guided by the action.
Tomato
Tomato rivers flow through the streets and squares, the walls of houses and all around are covered with a dense, scarlet mash of tomatoes. No, it's not an explosion in a canned tomato factory, it's one of the brightest holidays in Spain - Tomatina.
New Year in Tenerife
If you are dreaming of feeling like a hero of the Twelve Months fairy tale and swapping the winter with summer, having spent New Year's holidays at the very shore of the sea, then Tenerife, which is in the Canary Islands ridge, will help bring your dream to life.
New Year in Spain
New Year in Spain certainly can not be called a family celebration, here it is a true national festival. Here this holiday is celebrated in a special way, in accordance with the ardent temperament and fervent disposition of local residents.
And, if you delve into the history of the holidays, the sanctity of many of them is backed by religious traditions. Today, the official Catholic holidays in all of Spain are Christmas Day (December 25), Kings Day (January 6), Good Friday (April), Ascension of Our Lady (August 15), Spanish Day, or Saint Pilar all saints (November 1) and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8). In these holidays, the whole country officially rests.
In addition, each province has its own local holidays dedicated to the patron saints of the regions, for the celebration of which the population is provided with two non-working days.
Moreover, in the days of festivals and carnivals, various city institutions, including shops, banks, museums, clinics, entertainment centers and even places for catering, can be closed .Therefore, once in Spain during the mass events, tourists have nothing left, how to adjust to local traditions and merge with the noisy and bright crowds of Spaniards .As a rule, this fact does not upset the visitors at all, but on the contrary, it pleases .Thanks to multi-day fiestas, a normal vacation in Spain turns into a unique trip .No wonder many tourists plan their vacations specifically for the period of festivals and carnivals .
Winter
The calendar of winter holidays opens with the Day of the Constitution of Spain, which is celebrated on December 6. Just the next day, December 8, the whole country rests again, remembering the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On December 24 the Spaniards celebrate the Night before Christmas, and on December 25 celebrate the most important winter family holiday - Catholic Christmas.
New Year the Spaniards meet noisily and cheerfully, gathering on the central streets of their cities. The main festive crowd concentrates on the main square of the country - the Solar Gate, or Puerta del Sol, in Madrid. Under the battle of the clock the Spaniards eat 12 grapes and make wishes.
February is rich in numerous carnivals. Bright events with folk festivals, pyrotechnic performances, songs, dances and various delicacies take place in Navarre, Cantabria, Cadiz, Murcia, the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, as well as in many other parts of Spain. A particularly colorful event is famous for the capital of Tenerife - Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Day of Epiphany
Throughout the year the little Spaniards are eagerly awaiting the Day of the Three Kings-magicians, or Epiphanius Day, celebrated on January 6th. This holiday is dedicated to the memories of the biblical event - the worship of the Magi Kaspar, Melchior and Belshazzar to the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. On the Day of Epiphany in the cities are colorful representations, the so-called marches of kings. Closer to the night, the Spaniards set the tables, and the children put out polished shoes filled with straw, in which, according to tradition, the kings leave gifts or coal.
Spring
The most striking spring event is the Valencia Fallas, a holiday that has the world's most reverberating fire reputation..Preparation for Fallas begins long before the beginning of the event .Thanks to the annual work of talented designers and craftsmen, on 15 March Valencia turns into a world of dolls, large fallas (up to 20 meters high) and small ninots made of flammable materials specially for the holiday .The culmination of Fallas is the solemn burning of cardboard guests on the night of March 19 to March 20..It is worth noting that this truly spectacular spectacle is .
Holy Week
The main event of April (sometimes March or May, depending on the church calendar) is the Holy Week, the time between the end of fasting and Easter. During the Holy Week, the Spaniards remember the events connected with the crucifixion of Christ. Throughout the festive days on the streets of the city there are theatrical processions of religious brotherhoods. The processions reach their apogee on Thursday and Friday. The main festive procession takes place in Valladolid.
Book day
On April 23, the day of the death of the great Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the Spaniards celebrate Book Day. On the eve of the holiday in the Column Hall of the Madrid Club of Fine Arts, collective readings of the works of Cervantes begin, and on the streets of the city at every step you can buy the book of the legendary beloved author.
On the same day, April 23, Spaniards give each other gifts: girls get roses, and men - books. And this tradition belongs to the holiday of San Jordi (St. George's Day), very reminiscent of the famous Valentine's Day.
Summer
At the end of June, on the night of 23 to 24, in Spain, the popular Night of the Holy Juan is held among the youth. The tradition of celebrating this day is the kindling of large bonfires on the coast through which especially brave young people make jumps for the purpose of spiritual purification. On the island of Menorca, this holiday is celebrated with a parade of lights.
Perhaps one of the most famous summer holidays is the Feast in San Fermina, a bishop who in the 13th century rescued Pamplona from the plague epidemic. The start of the nine-day event is announced on July 6 at exactly noon by the launch of a firecracker from the balcony of the mayor's office. The San Fermin festival in Pamplona has gained its popularity thanks to the tradition of enzierro - a daily (during the holiday) morning run of bulls through the streets of the city with the participation of the people.
On the last Wednesday in August in the city of Bunyol there is an event called the Battle of Tomatoes, or Tomatina. On this day, 100 tons of ripe tomatoes are turned into real shells. Under the tomato sight can be everyone. The festival in Bunyol is accompanied by free food, music, dancing and festive fireworks.
Autumn
October 12 in Spain, there is a double celebration: the National Day of Spain and the Feast of the Holy Virgin Pilar (Our Lady, who appeared to the Apostle Santiago, standing on the pillar - pilar). On this day the Spaniards recall the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, which took place under the auspices of the Holy Virgin Pilar.
From 7 to 15 October in Pontevedra is a fish festival, commonly known as the Seafood Festival. During this period in the city incredibly many visitors.
The first day of November in honor of the Day of All Saints is declared to be non-working throughout Spain. Each region has its own traditions of celebrating the Day of All Saints. In Alicante, for example, there is a festive fair, in Catalonia eating roasted chestnuts, and in Cadiz dress up rabbits and chickens.
We have listed only a small part of the holidays taking place to be on the territory of Spain, without mentioning a lot of local fiestas. For example, they did not tell about the Great flour battle in Alarcon, which takes place in September. They did not tell us about the holiday in the province of Zamora, the culmination of which is the dropping of a painted goat from a twenty-meter bell tower. Did not give information about other no less enchanting events.