Festivals in Spain

Spanish Festivals

From dodging tomatoes at La Tomatina to Las Fallas in Valencia and from the Running of the Bulls at San Fermin in Pamplona to Semana Santa in Sevilla, welcome to 2camels' special take on the fiestas, fairs, celebrations, holidays, carnivals and festivals of Spain.

17 Spain Festival Articles

6 Spain Festival Snippets

31 Spain Festival Photo Galleries

13 Spain Festival Videos

48 Festival Websites

Spain Festivals by City or Region

Spain Festivals » 17 Articles

Article Title: Festival of San Fermin

Festival Name: San Fermin

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Traditional, Party

The Festival of San Fermin, first made famous outside of Spain by Ernest Hemingway in his novel 'The Sun Also Rises' (also known as 'Fiesta')

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Article Title: Three and a Half Ton of Bull

Festival Name: San Fermin - Running of the Bulls

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Party, Sport - Bizarre

My stomach was churning, my palms sticky, my heart smashing at the inside of my ribcage. I put on a brave face. Strange to think that I'd paid to be here.

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Article Title: Las Fallas de Valencia

Festival Name: Las Fallas

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Street Parade, Party, Fireworks

I awoke to the sound of firecrackers or explosives at the very least. This was merely pre-Fallas, a warm-up for the enormous celebration yet to come. The fiesta was a week away, yet very much on the minds of every Valencian.

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Article Title: Spain's Tomato Battle

Festival Name: La Tomatina

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Party, Food

But contrary to all this evidence, La Tomatina, an annual, city-wide, tomato riot, remains an inexact science. One would think that after 63 - or is it 64? - years, the residents of Buñol, Valencia, Spain, would have their facts straight. Some say La Tomatina uses 150,000 tomatoes. Other claim the number is over 1 million.

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Article Title: La Tomatina - The World's Biggest Food Fight

Festival Name: La Tomatina

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Bizarre, Party, Traditional

As history spells it out, what began in 1944 as a simple tomato fight between a group of friends in the town's main square - the Plaza del Pueblo - has turned into arguably the worlds largest food fight. Actually, there is very little to argue about.

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Article Title: Rioja's Wine Battle

Festival Name: Battle of the Wine - Batalla del Vino

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Wine, Bizarre, Food and Wine

In this juiced-up battle, the grapes have already been squished and fermented, so participants need only wineskins, plastic jugs, trashcans, water guns, or crop sprayers to spill, spritz, and splash the other 9,000 revelers at the Batalla del Vino or Wine Battle, in Haro, part of Spain's Rioja region.

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Article Title: Viana do Bolo Flour Festival

Festival Name: Flour Festival

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Traditional, Bizarre, Community

The whole Latin world celebrates carnival during this time, and Galicia is no different. Different areas celebrate in different ways, all with their own trademark. One such trademark is the orgy of flour throwing which engulfs the town of Viana do Bolo, in Ourense, every year.

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Article Title: Bilbao's Big Week

Festival Name: Aste Nagusia Bilbao

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Music - Traditional, Dance - Latin, Party

For ten days the city centre is full to bursting with people, young and old, enjoying a mix of traditional Basque music, dance and sports (anyone for a spot of stone-lifting or log-chopping?) and more modern spectacles, fuelled by regular helpings of food and wine from the many txosnas (large tents) that line the main streets.

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Article Title: The Arab Roots of the Flamenco

Festival Name: Flamenco

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Dance - Latin, Music - Traditional, Dance - Folk

This thrilling vociferation appeared to inspire the fiery black haired women dancers as they stamped the stage floor with wild uncontrolled passion. Beautifully costumed, their tight-bodice multi-coloured dresses flaring at the hips and covering petticoats with countless ruffles matched the carnations in their hair.

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Article Title: Summer Festival of El Vendrell

Festival Name: Summer Festival of El Vendrell

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Summer, Traditional, Cultural

There is a really special Catalan destination that combines sun and sand with a twist of magic for four days at the end of July. The Festa Major of Vendrell (Summer Festival) celebrates the day of Saint Anna on and around the 26th July in true Mediterranean style.

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Article Title: Christmas Festivals in Catalonia

Festival Name: Christmas

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Christmas, Religious

The month of December brings a flurry of parties and celebrations, leading up to the culmination of Christmas chaos or cheer, depending on your own personal viewpoint. In Spain, Christmas is celebrated not only on the 25th of December but also includes all the surrounding days from the 24th of December (Noche Vieja) until the 6th of January (Reyes).

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Article Title: The Festival of Sant Jordi at Montblanc

Festival Name: The Festival of Sant Jordi at Montblanc

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Medieval, Traditional

According to the Catalan historian, Joan Amades, the walls of Montblanc are the origin of Catalonia's most famous legend Sant Jordi, celebrated throughout Catalunya on the 23rd of April.

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Article Title: The Festivals of Valls: Humans Castles and Calçots

Festival Name: The Festivals of Valls

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Traditional, Cultural, Bizarre

One of the loveliest aspects of Catalonia, or certainly one of the most striking, is its capacity for local celebration. The Catalans are good at blowing their trumpets or more correctly stated the "gralle", an oboe like traditional Catalan instrument used in all the local festivities including Sardanas, Human Castles (Castellers) and the town parades of giants and puppets.

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Article Title: The Dance of the Horned Man

Festival Name: The Dance of the Horned Man

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Traditional, Dance - Folk, Cultural

A world away from the black garbed cross bearers of Barcelona's streets are the ruby red, horned dancers of Cornella del Terri, a small town located 113 kilometres north of Barcelona in the region of Girona.

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Article Title: The Festival of The Patum

Festival Name: The Patum

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Traditional, Dance - Folk, Medieval

Barcelona simmers in June day time heat as the refreshing evenings grow steadily longer. Firecrackers left by teenagers in street rubbish bins explode late at night, reminding us that the longest day of the year celebrated on the eve of Sant Joan, the 23rd of June, is only just round the corner.

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Article Title: A Homage To Sevilla

Festival Name: Semana Santa

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Cultural, Religious, Traditional

Semana Santa represents a pulsating celebration of Easter and is as much of a sacred tradition to the proud Andalucians, as the rather more barbaric pastime of Bullfighting.

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Article Title: Seville's April Fair: Spain At Its Best

Festival Name: Abril Feria - April Fair

Festival Country: Spain

Festival Type(s): Traditional, Food and Wine, Party

The word 'Spain' invokes images of a most vibrant nation, Latin passion, proud bull-fighters, flamencos, and of course, of Carmen and Don Juan. Seville in the Andalusian region in southern Spain is the very embodiment of the Spanish character and spirit, and its cultural richness is best manifested by the annual week-long festival in this city during the last week of April -- Abril Feria, or April Fair.

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