Spanish Holidays Essay, Research Paper

The Spanish Culture has many holidays. They celebrate a lot of different occasions throughout the year. Many of their holidays are celebrated in a different way then those celebrated in America. They celebrate some of the same holidays as us, but they also have a lot of different ones.

They celebrate New Years on January 1st just like us, Mothers day on May 10th, and Christmas on December 25th. We also celebrate them on the same day, but in a different way. They have village fiestas, with music, dancing, food, lots of flowers and lights; they decorate the town for these occasions.

On January 6th they celebrate the Feast of Epiphany. It?s basically the end of Christmas festivities. The three kings bring gifts to all the children. On the 17th they celebrate the Feast of San Antonis Abad. This holiday honors all the livestock for their work that they?ve done through out the year. They are all decorated with flowers and taken to the church to be blessed. Three days later (Jan. 20th) they get ready for the Feast of San Sabastian. The Mixtec people celebrate this holiday. Now in February they have a big celebration. The 2nd of February they celebrate the Day of the Candelaria. The streets are decorated with lanterns and there are fiestas all day. Everyone gathers in the streets to enjoy the bullfights and the parades. They take seeds and candles and bless them. On the 4th there is the Constitution Day, they celebrate the constitutions for 1857 and 1917. Then February 24th there is Flag Day and they just bless their flag and toward the end of the month there is a carnival with food, music and dancing. On March 19th there is the Day of St. Joseph. This honors patron saints of towns with that name. Then the 21st there is the Birthday of Benito J?arez. He was a Zapotec Indian born in Guelatao, Oaxaca, who became governor of Oaxaca, and was soon the president of Mexico. Soon comes Easter Sunday. They celebrate the whole week of Easter Sunday. There are tons of celebrations in every town. Many people go on vacation after this holiday. Then there is Labor Day when workers parade through the streets. May 3rd they bless the holy cross. When May 15th comes across there is the Feast of San Isidro where the new seeds and animals are taken to the church and are blessed. The first day of June there are two holidays, which are Navy Day, and Saint John the Baptist Day. They are celebrated by drinking and throwing water on one another. September 1st there is the State of the nation address by the president. It?s been a tradition since 1824. And of coarse there is Independence Day. They celebrate that holiday just like us, with fireworks, parties, parades and a lot of other celebrations. Soon comes Christmas, they give out gifts and also have religious services. They have people acting out the scenes of religious acts in the windows of stores, at church, and especially on the streets. They have parades, fiestas, and the town is really lit up with lights.

Their holidays are really celebrated, like they show that they appreciate the things that they are celebrating. We just celebrate things, but really don?t show how much we appreciate them. I think it?s interesting how they celebrate these things. And they celebrate the little things too. I?d like to go and visit a Spanish speaking country while they were celebrating a really big holiday.