Red Days and Holidays in 2019

For the 2019 working calendar in Spain, there are eight working days which will be considered national holidays, including two which will form a “bridge” around a weekend, as both November 1, All Saints Day , and December 6, Constitution Day, fall on a Friday,

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These are the national holidays of course, known as “red days”, and therefore we also have to add regional holidays, such as Valencia day, and local holidays which affect just the town which celebrates them.

The eight national holidays for 2019 are: Año Nuevo (New Year) on Tuesday 1 January, Viernes Santo (Good Friday) on Friday 19 April, Fiesta del Trabajo  (Labour Day) on Wednesday 1 May, la Asunción de la Virgen (the Assumption of the Virgin Mary) on Thursday 15 August, la Fiesta Nacional (Spain’s National Day) on Saturday 12 October, Todos los Santos (All Saints) on Friday 1 November, Día de la Constitución (Constitution Day) on Friday 6 December, and Navidad (Christmas Day) on Wednesday 25 December.

In addition to these eight holidays, all the autonomous communities, with the exception of Valencia and Catalonia, celebrate Holy Thursday on 18 April, but Valencia does recognise Easter Monday on 22 April, as does the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Navarra, Basque Country and La Rioja.

As on January 6, the Epiphany of the Lord, falls on Sunday, the communities of Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia and Navarra and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla will move the holiday to Monday 7 January.

Plus, Sunday 8 December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, will move to Monday 9 December in Aragon, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Madrid, La Rioja, Ceuta and Melilla.

Despite missing out on the extension of those two holidays, the Valencia region does celebrate the día de San José on 19 March, also recognised in Galicia, Murcia, Navarra and the Basque Country, but not the day of Santiago Apóstol on 25 July, which will be celebrated in Cantabria, Galicia and the Basque Country.

Castilla-La Mancha will be the only community that celebrates the day of Corpus Christi on 20 June, while San Esteban on 26 December will be a holiday in the Balearic Islands and Catalonia.

In addition to the national and regional holidays, local holidays are also recognised. These can be checked with your local social security office, or the town hall. In Torrevieja, for example, in 2019, in addition to the list above, San Vicente Ferrer is celebrated on Monday 29 April, and Thursday 26 December is also a local holiday.