Back to work after the Christmas break and we already have our eyes on the next `festivo´
So, what is a festivo?
In Spain, a “festivo” is a public holiday or “festive day” that marks cultural, religious, or national celebrations – each region of Spain has their own specific festivos as well as national holidays. For example, there are festivos for significant religious events like Easter (Semana Santa) and Christmas (Navidad) and national days like the Spanish National Day (Dia de España). Each city or town also celebrates its own local festivo, often in honour of a patron saint, plus there’s the annual feria, or fair, where a whole town parties for a week, complete with funfair, live bands and lots more – not to be missed!
In Spain, each year, there are 14 bank holidays (dias festivos), made up of 10 National holidays (of which the region can substitute two), two regional holidays and two local municipal holidays.
Bridging the gap! The “puente”
Puentes (literally “bridge”) are when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, and everyone takes advantage of the long weekend by taking the Monday or Friday off as well. Often Schools will take days off in between two `festivos´ even though they are supposed to be work days. As it happens, there are no puentes in 2024, but there are three long weekends – Monday,1 January; Friday, 1 November and Friday, 6 December.
Here’s the list of the official National Bank Holiday dates for 2024:
Monday, 1 January: New Year
Saturday, 6 January: Epiphany of the Lord (Three Kings, Reyes)
Friday, 29 March: Good Friday
Wednesday, 1 May: Labour Day
Thursday, 15 August: Assumption of the Virgin
Saturday, 12 October: National Day of Spain
Friday, 1 November: All Saints
Friday, 6 December: Spanish Constitution Day
Monday, 9 December: Immaculate Conception (moved to Monday from Sunday 8th), not all regions will celebrate this
Wednesday, 25 December: Christmas Day.
In the regions that have chosen to celebrate Holy Thursday (28 March), there will be a four-day “puente”, and in five regions (Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Navarra, Basque Country and La Rioja ) this “puente” will be five days long as there is a holiday on Easter Monday too (1 April) .
In Upsticks region
Upsticks is based in Andalucia and here we celebrate `Dia de Andalucia´ which falls on Wednesday 28th February this year.
Other popular regions for Upsticks clients have their own special day. Alicante celebrates `Dia de la Comunidad de Valencia´ on 9th October and Murcia celebrates its special day on 9th June.
Alhaurín de la Torre
Upsticks HQ is in Alhaurin de la Torre, and this year, the local fiestas are on Saturday, 20 January, and we will be closing the office on Monday, 24 June.
Useful Links
You can check out all the local fiesta in towns in Andalucia HERE