1. FESTIVALS IN
SPAIN
And ancient celebrations in Soria

2. JANUARY
• New Year’s Day
(national holiday):
- January 1st
- The new calendar starts
and Spanish people
celebrate it having a
family lunch together.
• The day of the Three
Wise Men (national
holiday):
- January 6th
- On the night of the 5th,
the children all over Spain
can’t sleep, waiting for
the presents which the
Three Wise Men will
leave for them.

3. FEBRUARY
• Carnival Time (national holiday on
Carnival-Tuesday):
- Immediately before the period of Lent.
- People dress up and go on processions,
and groups of friends get together to sing
funny songs about current events.

4. MARCH
• Father’s Day:
- March 19th.
- People give presents to their fathers,
honouring the fathers of the world.

5. APRIL
Easter (national
holiday on Maundy
Thursday and Good
Friday):
-
It commemorates Jesus´s
death and resurection.
Some people go on
processions.

6. • Day of Castilla y León:
- April 23rd. This is Castilla y León´s regional day. The
date is the anniversary of the Battle of Villalar, in which
Castilian rebels called Comuneros were dealt a crushing
defeat by the royalist forces of King Charles I in the
Revolt of the Comuneros on April 23, 1521.
- It is a work holiday in our region and some cultural
events are celebrated.
- Castilla y León is the largest autonomous community in
Spain and the third biggest region of the European
Union.

7. MAY
• Labour Day:
- May 1st.
- Spanish people have a day off work and in
some cities there are processions and peaceful
marches.
• Mother’s Day:
- The first Sunday of May.
- Spanish people give presents to their mothers
to celebrate this day.

8. June
• The fire walkers of San Pedro Manrique: San Pedro
is a small village in the extreme Northeast corner of Soria (thirty
miles from Soria). It consists of crossing live coals bonfire barefoot.
The bonfire does not form lumps. Young men dance around the fire,
and exactly at midnight everything is ready to begin the walk across
the carpet. Ten to twelve young men are chosen to cross, and they
generally carry someone on their shoulders, since the extra weight
avoids combustion. They never get burned. Women dressed in
white (called "móndidas"), carrying wicker baskets and long
breadsticks ("arbujuelos"), walk in a procession. One of them, the
most important one, offers the first "arbujuelo" to the priest.
According to some, these women represent ancient Celtiberian
priestesses.

9. June
• Saint John is also the patron of our city.
• We celebrate fiestas during six days: miércoles el
pregón, jueves la saca, viernes de toros, sábado agés,
domingo de calderas y lunes de bailas:

10. JULY
• Day of the Apostle Santiago (national
holiday):
- July 25th.
- He is the patron of Spain.
- Hundreds of pilgrims arrive in the north
of the country to walk to Santiago de
Compostela.

11. AUGUST
• Assumption of Mary (national holiday):
- August 15th.
- It commemorates the ascending of the
Virgin Mary into Heaven when she died.
- Most villages celebrate fiestas in this
week.

12. OCTOBER
• El día de la Hispanidad (national
holiday): - October 12th.
- This is the national day of Spain and a national
holiday that commemorates the anniversary of
Christopher Columbus’ first arrival in America. It
´s also Spain's Day of the Armed Forces,
celebrated each year with a military parade
in Madrid, presided over by the Spanish King.

13. NOVEMBER
• All Saints’ Day:
- November 1st.
- It is a national
holiday in honour of
all the Saints.
- Spanish people visit
the graves of their
beloved and leave
flowers there.

14. DECEMBER
• Day of the Spanish
Constitution (national
holiday):
- December 6th.
- A national day in all
Spain that commemorates
the day that the
constitution was approved
in Spain.
• The Immaculate
Conception:
- December 8th.
- It is the day when we
celebrate that the Virgin
Mary was free of sin.

15. DECEMBER
• New Year’s Eve:
- December 31st.
- A family dinner to say
goodbye to the year and
welcome a New Year. At
midnight we eat 12
• Christmas Day (national
grapes and wish each
holiday):
other a happy New Year.
- December 25th.
- This time we enjoy lunch
together with our families.
• Christmas Eve:
- December 24th.
- Families meet and have
dinner all together.