Spaniards are always up for a good party and they certainly know how to throw one! The country's cultural agenda is jam-packed with all sorts of truly unique celebrations ranging from small to large, from religious processions to whacky food fights, from festive dancing to what seems like pyrotechnic chaos. Below you can lear a bit about a few of the country's most famous festivals!
CARNAVAL
February / March
While carnaval celebrations take place throughout Spain, the wildest festivities are found in Tenerife (Canary Islands) and Cádiz. Music, satire, costumes, street parties, parades and contests galore.
LAS FALLAS
March
The annual and highly-anticipated celebration of Las Fallas is the top event on Valencia's cultural calendar. The festival includes beauty contests, plenty of food and drink, music and towering papier-mache constructions that are then burned in a huge pyrotechnic display that also includes fireworks, firecrackers and more.
SEMANA SANTA
March / April
Semana Santa (Holy Week) is celebrated throughout Spain, but the most spectacular display is without a doubt in Andalucía, in cities like Córdoba, Granada and Sevilla . Elaborate floats depicting scenes from the Passion or the mourning Virgin are carried upon the shoulders of up to 40 people at a time through the streets in massive processions that also include musicians and hundreds of penitents, or "nazarenos".
FERIA DE ABRIL
April / May
Towns and cities throughout Spain have their own "ferias", or spring fairs, to celebrate the arrival of spring with music, dancing, flamenco dresses, food and drink and overall merry-making. The most famous of Spain's ferias, however, is the feria in Sevilla.
LAS HOGUERAS
June
Similar to Valencia's Las Fallas, Las Hogueras de San Juan (The Bonfires of Saint John) is an annual festival most famous in Alicante. Colorful constructions of wood and papier-mache are set on fire, bonfires dot the beaches, daily fireworks displays light up the night sky, parades clamor through the streets, street parties rage on all night and much fun is had.
RUNNING OF THE BULLS
July
The Running of the Bulls, made famous by Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, is held each year in the Navarran city of Pamplona. Each morning for an entire week, fighting bulls clamor through the city's narrow streets as runners try their best to avoid being trampled or gored and hundreds of spectators look on and cheer. The rest of each day is dedicated to street parties, food and drink, bullfights, music, parades and more.
LA TOMATINA
August
This all-out, every-man-for-himself, tomato-hurling food fight held each year in the small and otherwise very tranquil town of Buñol quite literally paints the town red!