Find out what´s on when in 2010 with our calendar of fiestas and festivals for the year ahead. Which covers all of the major events such as Carnaval along with national and local holidays.
New Years Day – 1st January
As in the UK, January 1st is a national public holiday, although in the main tourist resorts, shops such as supermarkets will usually be open during the day.
Three Kings – 5th January
Whilst the procession of the Three Wise Men or Magi actually happens on the evening of January 5th, the Dia de los Reyes is celebrated 6th January. This is a national bank holiday throughout Spain and its islands. Traditionally, Spanish children would receive their presents on this day, rather than 25th December, as it coincides with the date when the Three Kings brought their gifts to Jesus’s crib.
Carnaval
In 2010 the first day of Canarval is February 5th, with the Arrecife Carnaval leading the field. Its origins are tied up with Lent, the period of abstinence that precedes Ash Wednesday, with some suggestions that its name comes from ‘carne’ (meat) and ‘valle’ (farewell).
Whilst there is no official bank holiday during Carnaval, each municipality on Lanzarote has shorter school days during the celebrations, so that children have the chance to participate in making costumes and attending the parades.
Easter
As a Catholic country, Easter is an important part of the Spanish calendar, with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday established as national bank holidays. In 2010, Maundy Thursday falls on 1st April, with Good Friday on 2nd.
Dia del Trabajo – 1st May
Just as in the UK, the 1st of May is celebrated across Spain as Labour Day, with workers enjoying a bank holiday on this day. In 2010 however, 1st May falls on a Saturday.
Dia de la Cruz – 3rd May
This is a local fiesta, specifically celebrated in the municipal areas of Tias and Teguise. It involves locals adorning crosses with flowers and hanging them from their front doors. In Teguise, there are several large crosses that stand at various points around the town and which are decorated entirely in flowers. Dia de la Cruz is not a bank holiday, merely a fiesta where religious observance of an old tradition is still an important cultural event.
Dia de Canarias
The archipelago has its own regional bank holiday to mark its status as an autonomous region of Spain. This holiday is held on 30th May and is one of the occasions when visitors to Lanzarote will see locals in traditional dress.
Corpus Christi
Another date in the calendar that owes its significance to the Catholic Church and also has a moveable date, Corpus Christi is observed by local Lanzaroteños with the creation of colourful carpets of salt.
Each municipality has teams of participants, who will decide on the theme for their ‘carpet’ and on the day, will lay out the design on the pavement of their town with layers of coloured salt. The use of salt was probably adopted in place of the greenery that adorned the streets of towns in mainland Spain on Corpus Christi, due to the lack of plant life and abundance of salt that Lanzarote has.
The day on which it is celebrated is the eighth Thursday (or 60 days) after Easter, which will be 3rd June in 2010. Corpus Christi is not a national holiday.
San Juan – 23rd June
The fiesta of San Juan is the Spanish equivalent of the Midsummer Solstice in the UK. The shortest night is celebrated with bonfires, which are said to signify purification, with the most daring jumping over the flames three times to be personally cleansed. Traditionally it is also the day when Conejeros on Lanzarote would have their first bathe in the sea. San Juan is a fiesta rather than a national holiday.
San Marcial – 7th July
As the patron saint of Lanzarote, the fiesta of San Marcial was traditionally observed with a pilgrimage on foot to Femes, where the oldest church in the Canary Islands is situated, San Marcial de Rubicon.
Nuestra Señora del Carmen – 16th July
This fiesta is actually observed throughout Spain, wherever there are fishing communities dependent on the sea to make their living, as Carmen is the patron saint of fishermen. On Lanzarote, Nuestra Señora del Carmen is celebrated in different municipalities from 16th July onwards for approximately two weeks.
The most spectacular aspect of this fiesta is when the saint is taken out of the church and launched upon a flower filled boat to bless the local waters. This occurs both at La Graciosa on 16th July and in Puerto del Carmen, in the old harbour, later in the month.
Virgen de las Nieves – 5th August
This is a local fiesta, which was traditionally marked by a pilgrimage to the northern massif of the Risco de Famara. Lanzaroteños would undertake this journey to pray for the Virgin’s assistance, whether that was in the form of rainfall or protection from marauding pirates. It is not a bank holiday.
Dia de la Asuncion 15th August
The Assumption is a national bank holiday. As a deeply religious country many of the traditions held dear by the Catholic church form the basis of numerous fiestas and bank holidays in Spain. This is the day on which Mary, mother of Jesus, was said to have ascended to heaven. In Lanzarote, there is normally a large fireworks display held in the capital of Arrecife to celebrate the Asuncion.
San Gines – 25th August
As the patron saint of Arrecife, San Gines gives his name to the principal church in the capital, which is just behind El Charco. 25th August is the final day of a ten day fiesta, with events and live music on offer on the days preceding the 25th.
Los Dolores – 15th September
Also known as Nuestra Señora de los Volcanes, Dolores is one of the most important dates in the Lanzarote calendar. It marks the miracle of Dolores, who prayed to the Virgin to stop the lava flows issuing from the Timanfaya region from engulfing her village of Mancha Blanca.
Every year it is celebrated over two days as the effigy of the Virgin is taken out of the church at Mancha Blanca. Thousands of Lanzaroteños attend this fiesta, many of them walking from their homes on the other side of the island dressed in traditional costume and pushing shopping trolleys full of food and drink to see them through their pilgrimage. Live music and lots of stalls selling food and drink fill the square surrounding the church during the festivities, which often go on all night.
Dia de la Hispanidad – 12th October
This is a national holiday formed to mark the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the birth of the Spanish Empire.
Dia de Todos los Santos – 1st November
Also known as the Day of the Dead, it is the Spanish version of Halloween.
Dia de la Constitución – 6th December
This is a national public holiday to celebrate the introduction of the Constitutional Referendum in 1978, just three years after Franco’s death.
Dia de la Concepcion Inmaculada – 8th December
The day of the Immaculate Conception is also a national public holiday, revealing the strength of observance that has existed in Spain until very recently of the major Catholic festivities. Its close proximity to the Dia de la Constitución means that many people take the 7th December off as well, forming what is known as a ‘puente’ or bridge between two public holidays.
