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You are here: Home Moving to Country Facts Spanish holidays for 2009

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20/01/2009Spanish holidays for 2009

Here is a list of public holidays observed in Spain in 2009.

Below are the national holidays and some regional holidays for 2009.

2009
1 January - New Year's Day (Año Nuevo)
6 January* - Epiphany (Dia de los tres Reyes otherwise known as the 12th night of Christmas where children receive their Christmas presents)
19 March* - Father’s Day (San Jose) 
5 to 12 April - Week before Easter (Semana Santa)
9 April* - Maundy Thursday (Jueves Santo) 
10 April - Good Friday (Viernes Santo)
11 April* - Easter Monday (Lunes de Pascua)
1 May - Labour Day (Día del Trabajador)
15 August - Assumption of the Virgin (Asuncion)
12 October - National Day (Dia de la Hispanidad)
1 November - All Saints' Day (Todos los Santos where relatives remember the dead and lay flowers on their graves)
6 December - Constitution Day (Dia de la Constitucion)
8 December - Immaculate Conception (Immaculada Concepcion)
24 December - Christmas’ Eve. Some say Christmas’ eve is far more important than Christmas Day in Spain. Shops close early as Spaniards gather together for a big meal at night.
25 December - Christmas Day (Navidad) 
28 December - Fools’ Day (Dia de los Santos Inocentes – a day where people play all kinds of pranks on one another)

*These holidays may be replaced by the autonomous communities with another date. Depending on which part of Spain you are at, regional public holidays may vary. 

*Easter Monday is not a public holiday, except in Catalonia and Valencia. In Spain, shops close the week before Easter. Most stores are closed on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Sunday.

If this is your first year in Spain, public holidays can be confusing. Public holidays celebrated in this country include a mix of religious, national and regional observances. Each municipality is allowed to declare a maximum of 14 public holidays per year where nine are chosen by the national government and at least two are chosen locally. To complicate matters, if a government-picked holiday falls on a Sunday, the local municipality can replace it with a regional holiday. 

It is also important to note which day Spanish holiday falls on. If a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, many businesses will take the Monday or Friday off too. This is known as a 'puente', a 'bridge' between the holiday and the weekend.

Expatica 2009

photo credit: Kozumel 
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