The cultural traditions in Spain are as rich and interesting as its gastronomy, literature, music and art. Every region, province or local area in Spain has its own cultural customs, often commemorating some significant events in its history.
I believe it would be an interesting topic for an article on my blog to choose the most popular tradition of each month of the year for someone native to Spain.
This list of cultural traditions in Spain that I share with you today is personal. Probably my family or friends would choose other traditions, but… the Spanish teacher is me 😁, so…
Let’s start!
On this tour that we are going to take together through the cultural traditions in Spain, you will have a plan to organise a getaway to Spain in any month of the year.
We begin our journey through the most relevant traditions and festivals in Spain with the Three Kings Parade of Alcoy, in Alicante.
On the evening of January 5, grandparents, parents and children go out to the streets of Spain to watch the traditional Three Kings Parade together. This tradition commemorates the journey of the three wise men from the East (Gaspar, Melchior and Baltasar) to worship the Child Jesus.
This parade is celebrated throughout Spain and in it, the three Wise Men and their pages and assistants walk through the streets of the cities and towns of Spain throwing candies and sweets to the children.
This Spanish Christmas tradition has its origin in Alcoy (Alicante, Spain) in 1866, which is why the Alcoy Three Wise Men’s Parade is one of the most emblematic in the country.
In Alcoy, during the parade, the pages which accompany the Three Wise Men climb the walls of the houses with ladders and leave the children’s gifts in their homes.
We now continue our trip and fly to the Canary Islands, specifically to the island of Tenerife, to see their carnival which is celebrated in February.
The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is considered the second most popular carnival in the world, after that of Rio de Janeiro. Both cities are twinned for this reason.
Although the carnival may have a pagan origin, since there is evidence that this type of festival was celebrated in honour of Bacchus, the Roman king of wine, the carnival as we know it today in Spain, has a connection with the Christian religion.
Carnival is characterised by a week of celebration and a certain lack of control before Christian Lent (recollection and preparation for Holy Week).
It begins on a Thursday, with the grand gala to elect the Carnival Queen and ends the following Wednesday (Ash Wednesday with the Burial of the Sardine).
The origin of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival dates back to 1778, when these parties began to be celebrated in which people danced to the sound of music, changed their sex using costumes and the upper classes mixed with the common people.
In Santa Cruz, each year a theme is proposed for attendees to dress up in. For example, classical Rome, space, ancient Egypt, cinema, the circus, the Arabian Nights, the 1920s…
Outdoor concerts are held with the most important Latin artists internationally, such as Celia Cruz or Juan Luis Guerra.
In March, one of our most famous festivities takes place in Valencia, the Fallas.
The Fallas of Valencia is celebrated in honour of San José, patron saint of carpenters (March 19th) and it is a festival characterised by rockets, firecrackers, impressive “fallas” and fire.
The word “falla”, in mediaeval Valencian, was used to name the torches that were placed at the top of the watchtowers. Later, “falla” began to be used to refer to the bonfires that were lit at festivals.
In the Middle Ages, the carpenters’ guild, one of the most important in the city of Valencia, celebrated the feast of its patron Saint Joseph by lighting bonfires in a ritual called “la cremà” (the burning).
In these bonfires, the carpenters took the opportunity to clean their workshops and burn all the old remains of the previous year. It was a ritual to start a new year with a new spring.
The Fallas figures have satirical characters on current issues: politicians, famous people, celebrities… The Fallas artists work throughout the year and prizes are awarded to the best Fallas.
The first reference to the Fallas, as we know them today, dates back to 1774.
Today, in the Fallas of Valencia, impressive figures are made and displayed in the streets for several days, before the final “la cremà” (or final burning) that takes place on Saint Joseph’s Day, March 19th.
In April it is already spring in Spain and the good weather has arrived. For this reason, celebrations and festivals of cultural traditions in Spain begin to accumulate. But if there is something that Spain is characterised by in April, it is Holy Week.
We travel to Seville to discover its incredible Holy Week.
Holy Week in Spain commemorates the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. In Seville, between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, 60 religious brotherhoods walk in processions around the city.
The religious brotherhoods that we can see today had their origin in the trade guilds of the Middle Ages, although it was not until the 16th century that they were formally established as religious brotherhoods, with a certain dress, and with specific routes for their processions.
The most popular religious brotherhoods in Seville are:
All these brotherhoods parade in procession throughout the night from Thursday to Good Friday, in what is popularly known as la madrugá (the dawn). For this very reason, the night and early morning are the most popular events of Holy Week in Seville.
May is the month of flowers and to see one of the best shows of colour and beauty, we are going to travel to Córdoba, to the Los Patios festival.
This festival is a patio contest in the Andalusian city of Córdoba.
People of Córdoba decorate their patios with a multitude of pots and flowers and the spectacle is incredible because many of these patios still preserve fountains and tiles of Arab origin.
It is celebrated during the second and third week of May and the participants decorate and open their patios with Arab and Andalusian air so that they can be admired by visitors.
June is the month of the beginning of summer and on our tour of cultural traditions in Spain, we travel to Alicante to celebrate the night of San Juan.
The Bonfires of Saint John are the festivities celebrated in the city of Alicante in honour of Saint John the Baptist, from June 20th to 24th.
In many other parts of Spain, this night considered magical (the night of June 23rd to 24th), is also celebrated. The reality is that although the birth of a Christian saint is commemorated, the origin of this festival is pagan.
Not only in Spain but throughout Europe, the night of the summer solstice (June 21st) was chosen as a reference for the cult of the sun. On one of the shortest nights of the year, bonfires were made to ask the deities for good harvests during the summer and prosperity during the rest of the year.
The religious meaning for this celebration came later, since the birth of Saint John the Baptist took place on the night of June 23rd to 24th and was adopted by Christianity although the pagan custom of bonfires was maintained.
In Alicante, these festivals are very similar to the Fallas of Valencia, with sculptures displayed in the streets, the noise of firecrackers and rockets and the final burning.During all these days, in addition to enjoying the bonfires that are made on the beach of Alicante, you can also delight in the traditional roasted sardines (espetos de sardinas).
Summer is here! The first of the cultural traditions in Spain that we are going to see in this part of the article is world-famous.
We travel to Navarra because in its capital, Pamplona, the Sanfermines are celebrated in July.
Sanfermines are celebrated in the Spanish city of Pamplona, in Navarra, in honour of San Fermín de Amiens, patron saint of the city.
They begin with the launch of “el chupinazo” (which is a rocket) from the balcony of Pamplona City Hall, at 12 o’clock noon on July 6th, and end at 12 o’clock midnight on July 15th, when everybody sings the popular song known as “Pobre de mí…” (“Poor me…”).
The origin of this festival dates back to the Middle Ages when livestock fairs and religious events were held in honour of San Fermín.
The ranchers brought the bulls to the Pamplona livestock fair from the fields and pastures of the Ribera de Navarra. The night before the big day of the festival, the ranchers slept with their cattle right outside the city. At dawn the next day, they ran into Pamplona, on foot and horseback, helped by tame bulls and accompanied by the people of the city to the Plaza Mayor of Pamplona.
This is the origin of the famous Sanfermines bull runs that take place today and that the American writer Ernest Hemingway made world famous thanks to his book “Fiesta” (The Sun Also Rises).
The Sanfermines running of the bulls consists of a joint race of 849 metres with the mozos (people who run), 6 brave bulls and 6 gentle bulls (also called halters). The race begins on Cuesta de Santo Domingo, then goes through the famous Estafeta Street and ends in the alley of the Plaza de Toros de Navarra.
The running of the bulls takes place every day from July 7th to 14th. The races begin at 8 o’clock in the morning and are very fast races, with great security measures, lasting between 2 and 4 minutes.
The traditional clothing worn in San Fermín is a white t-shirt and pants, a red waist sash and a red neck scarf.
We now travel to the town of Buñol, province of Valencia, to enjoy La Tomatina.
This event takes place on the last Wednesday of August, within the week of the local Buñol festivals.
This celebration consists of the inhabitants and visitors of Buñol throwing tomatoes at each other for an hour.
That morning, six trucks will distribute 150 tons of tomatoes to those attending. The tomatoes come from the town of Chilches, in Castellón and are grown specifically for this festival. They are very cheap, are not suitable for eating and are crushed before the party starts so that they do not harm the participants.
Once the tomatoes have been distributed, at 11 o’clock in the morning, a rocket is launched and the battle, the Tomatina, begins. Exactly one hour later, a second rocket is launched marking the end of the fighting. Next, the cleaning trucks enter, with powerful hoses to clean the streets and squares of the town. Participants take advantage of this water to take a “quick shower.”
There are more tomatinas in this region of Spain, but the one in Buñol is the most famous.
In September autumn arrives in Spain and that means harvest time. We travel to the south of Spain, to Jerez de la Frontera, to discover one of the oldest grape harvest festivals in the country.
The Grape Harvest Festival of Jerez de la Frontera, province of Cádiz, is celebrated during the second half of September and is one of the oldest grape harvest fairs in Spain, originating in the 16th century.
The main activities that take place during these days are:
Three of the most important winery families in Jerez are the Terrys, the Domecqs and the Osbournes, three English surnames. This is because Jerez wine has been highly valued by the British since Roman times, which continued during the Middle Ages, when King Henry I of Castile exchanged English wool for Jerez wine.
In this way, “sherry,” as they call it, became popular among the Anglo-Saxons and starting in the 17th century, many English businessmen began to make investments in wineries in Jerez.
Today, you can find up to 40 historic wineries in Jerez, most of them belonging to the Denomination of Origin “Jerez-Xérès-Sherry”.
How quickly the year is going by! Let’s discover the three latest cultural traditions in Spain that will continue to give you ideas to plan your next trip.
In October you can discover one of the most curious and striking traditions in Spain: the castellers.
A castell (castle in Catalan) is a human tower several floors high. Castellers are traditionally built during festivals in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community.
The Castellers de Valls, in Tarragona, are the oldest in Spain, of which there is evidence for the first time in 1712.
This celebration takes place on October 21st, on the occasion of the celebration of Saint Úrsula, in the town of Valls (province of Tarragona) and there it is possible to see some of the most impressive castells or human towers.
The parts of the castells are:
These festivals involve several teams of men and women, who train all year round and compete to build the tallest, most elaborate and most spectacular castle.
We are almost finishing the year and our tour of the cultural traditions in Spain that you cannot miss. We are going to a region that I love. We travel to Asturias to visit the Potes Marc (Orujo) Festival.
The Orujo Festival takes place on the second weekend of November in the beautiful town of Potes in Cantabria, in the heart of the Picos de Europa mountains.
Potes belongs to the Liébano region, which is characterised by having optimal climate and ecological conditions for the cultivation of vineyards and the production of wine.
The production of marc in this region dates back to the harvests of the vineyards of the monasteries in the area, in the Middle Ages. The most relevant was and is the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana.
But what is marc (orujo)?
Grape marc is an alcoholic beverage that is obtained from the distillation of the grape skins or remains after making wine.
The traditional way of making marc is with alquitara. The alquitara is a copper and tin instrument that is placed on the fire, with the remains of the grapes, and in which the distillation is carried out slowly.
Thousands of visitors come to Potes in November to enjoy the marc, traditional music, the local product markets, the gastronomy of the area and to be able to see the distillation process with alquitaras live.
We finish the year and I am exhausted from travelling so much around Spain and from all the festivals we have enjoyed in this article 😂
We are going to say goodbye to the year, as it could not be otherwise, with the clock of the Puerta del Sol in Madrid and the 12 lucky grapes of New Year’s Eve.
The tradition of eating the 12 lucky grapes to say goodbye to the year, dates back to 1909. In December of that year, some winegrowers in the province of Alicante popularised this custom to better sell the excess grape production they had during that campaign. Tradition says that eating these 12 grapes will bring us a new year full of good luck and prosperity.
However, the origin of celebrating New Year’s Eve in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol comes from a little earlier, specifically, in 1897. At that time, the mayor of Madrid José Abascal prohibited large parties from being held in the street during the Christmas period. As a protest, the lower classes of society began to gather to celebrate New Year’s Eve in front of the Puerta del Sol clock, eating a plate of cabbage.
Every December 31st, thousands of people gather at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol to welcome the new year, eating the 12 lucky grapes while the clock chimes at Puerta del Sol.
After our tour of the most popular cultural traditions in Spain for each month… Which one did you like the most?
I personally really like the grape harvest festivals that take place all over the country during the early autumn months.
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IMAGES
www.spain.info, www.nationalgeographic.es, www.jerezdelafrontera.com, www.tradicionesyfiestas.com, www.libertaddigital.com, Wikipedia, Getty, Alarmy, Shutterstock, Unsplash
