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3. El día de los Reyes
Magos
Tuesday, January 6th
The 3 kings bring 3 gifts to
baby Jesus after following
a bright Star. In Spain, it is
the day when the children
receive presents instead of
Christmas day. People eat a
special dessert called “el
Roscón de Reyes”.
L’épiphanie
Tuesday, January 6th
The Epiphany in France isn’t a
bank holiday but French people
generally eat a special cake.
There is a charm hidden in the
cake and the person who finds it
becomes the “ King“ for one day
and receives the crown .
Mutlu yıllar
Bonne année
Feliz año nuevo
Buon anno
New Year’s Day
Thursday, January 1st
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
January
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5. Saint Valentine’s Day
February 14th
This is a special day for
lovers.
Couples go out for can-
dlelit dinners and ex-
change presents.
El Carnaval
February 15th
Spain is a country with a well
known Catholic tradition. The
carnival is, therefore, celebrated
before the 40 days of Lent as a
way to let loose before the prohi-
bitions of the upcoming reli-
gious holidays. Most Andalucian
towns stage some kind of pa-
rade, and there is usually a
dance and a "Carnival Queen"
contest.
El dia de Andulucía
February 28th
This is an important day because, An-
dalucía became an independent re-
gion. It’s a bank holiday. People deco-
rate their yards, and put the andalucia
flag in their balconies. They sing the
anthem too .
February
7. Saint Joseph’s day
19th
March
Some people attend special church services to honor
the life of St Joseph. St Joseph's Day also celebrates fa-
thers. In Valencia during the week of March 19th the city
is filled with gigantic cardboard monuments, “ninots”.
People work through out the night to install more than
700 statues in the streets and squares of the city.
On the night of 19th to 20th, the “crema” is done, when
burning in the middle of a fascinating show of light, mu-
sic and fireworks. Everything is burnt except one ninot
which, elected by popular vote, is saved from the flames
to form part of the collection of the “Fallas” Museum.
Palm Sunday
March 28th
Palm Sunday commemorates the trium-
phal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem
when palm branches were placed on his
path, before his arrest on Holy Thurs-
day and his crucifixion on Good Friday. It
thus marks the beginning of Holy Week,
the final week of Lent, and the week in
which christians celebrate the mystery of
their salvation through Christ's death and
his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Palm Sunday is also celebrated in France,
in Italy and in Spain.
March
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9. Pâques Pascua Pasqua
5th and 6th April
Easter is one of the most important festivals in the Christian calendar, cel-
ebrated throughout the world with great pomp and show. It concludes the
period of Lent. Christians celebrate the Christ’s resurrection. In France,
parents hide chocolate eggs in the garden for their children to find.
Festa della Liberazione
25th
April
Italians celebrate the liberation from nazi Germany in 1945
National sovereignty and children’s day
23rd April
It was created in 1979 by Mustafa KEMAL ATATURK, the founder of the Republic of Tur-
key. Children celebrate this festival with parades, reading poems, Anatolian folk dance
performances, songs.
April
11. Labour day
May 1st
A lot of countries have a bank holiday on May
1st to celebrate workers.
In France it is customary to give people a
small bouquet of Lily of the valley.
Youth and Sports day
May 19TH
This annual Turkish national holiday com-
memorates Mustafa Kemal’s landing at
Samsun on May 19 , 1919. Youths sing the
national anthem , recite poems , make pa-
rades and sports and realise cultural activi-
ties like performing folk dances and playing
epic drama.
Happy mother's day!
In May we all celebrate our mothers.
31st May Bonne Fête Maman!
3rd May ¡Feliz día de la Madre!
10th May Iyi bayramlar anne!
10th May Buona festa mamma!
May
13. Fête de la musique
21st June
Every year on June 21, the first day of summer, all musi-
cal styles are honored with the Music Festival, held
throughout France and around the world.
This festival, was an initiative of the Ministry of Culture.
Saints Peter and Paul
in Rome
29th June
Every town and small country in Italy has its
own traditional festival of patron saints, with
celebrations of the Eucharist, mayor’s speech
and fireworks.
Saint Peter and Saint Paul are the patron
saints of Rome and the Romans. Their cele-
bration begins on June 28th
in the evening, in
the Vatican Basilica where the statue of St.
Peter is dressed as a pope, followed by a se-
ries of religious rites. The most awaited mo-
ment of the evening is when the cathedral is
entirely lit up. The most striking moment is in-
stead the Pinwheel of Castel Sant’Angelo, a
fireworks show that takes place in Castel
Sant’Angelo as it did in the Middle Ages.
Today the anniversary has become the occa-
sion for a series of events, such as beauty
pageants and live concerts.
Ramadan Feast
17th 18th 19th June
The feast celebrates the end of the Ramadan.
Many Turks give away sweets and desserts
during the festival. They put on their best
clothes. Children go door-to-door, kissing
hands of the grown-ups and receiving sweets
and small amounts of money in return
June
15. FESTA DEL REDENTORE
July 19th
The Festa del Redentore is a traditional celebration in
Venice which occurs on the third Sunday in July.
Redentore means "Redeemer" in Italian, and the Festa
del Redentore Venice celebrates the city's deliverance
from the ravages of the plague in 1577. The Venice
Redentore Festival is held on the third Saturday and
Sunday of July. A grand secular celebration with fes-
tive dinners and fireworks occurs on Saturday even-
ing. Sunday is reserved for religious observances, in-
cluding High Mass at the Redentore Church and after-
noon regattas in the lagoon.
Le quatorze Juillet
July 14th
The French National Day com-
memorates the beginning of
the French Revolution with the
Storming of the Bastille on 14
July 1789. Celebrations are
held throughout France. The
oldest and largest regular mili-
tary parade in Europe is held
on the morning of 14 July, on
the Champs-Élysées in Paris
in front of the President of the
Republic, French officials and
foreign guests.
July
Santiago el Apostol
25th July
In Spain, St James is called El Senor
Santiago, the patron saint of horsemen
and soldiers, and his great shrine at
Santiago de Compostela in that country
has been a place of pilgrimage for centu-
ries.
Many events are organized on and be-
fore Saint James' Day in the Basque
Country and Galicia. These include:
Special church services to honor the life
and work of Saint James.
Exhibitions of art work by artists born or
living in or near Santiago de Composte-
la.
Theatre productions and street shows.
Concerts of modern and traditional mu-
sic, including bagpipe performances.
Traditional dance events held outside.
Special services are held in the cathe-
dral in Santiago de Compostela on July
25. Church officials swing a large in-
cense burner at full speed during this
service. They fill the whole church with
incense smoke.
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17. Victory Day
30th
August
Military parades and ceremonies at monuments to Musta-
fa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the Turkish Republic, are
some common ways to celebrate Victory Day in Turkey.
Ferragosto
15th
August
The Catholic Church celebrates this date to commemorate the
Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
The term Ferragosto is derived from the Latin expression Feri-
ae Augusti (Augustus' rest), which is a celebration introduced
by the emperor Augustus in 18 BC. The popular tradition of
taking a trip during Ferragosto arose during Fascism. In the
second half of the 1920s, during the mid-August period, the
regime organised hundreds of popular trips through the Fas-
cist leisure and recreational organisations of various corpora-
tions, and via the setting up of the "People's Trains of Ferra-
gosto", which were available at discounted prices.
Nowadays, in all the Itali;an cities which
are near the coast, families organize a
day-long picnic at the beach, where the
most traditional food is a big fresh water-
melon.
August 15th is also a bank holiday in France and Spain
PALIO DI SIENA
2nd and 16th August
It’s a competition between districts, in the form of
a horse race. It’s of medieval origins and is linked to historical and religious reasons.
It takes place twice a year in Summer, on July 2nd and August 16th
August
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19. Sacrifice Feast
24th-27th September
Many people in Turkey may sacrifice an animal (uually a goat, a sheep
or a cow) in remembrance of their dead relatives on this day.The meat
is given to the poor or distributed among the neighbours.
Kurban Bayram
Back to School
September is also the month when the new school year starts in Turkey, Italy,
Spain and France.
September
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21. Cumhuriyet Bayrami
20th
October
This holiday commemorates 29th
October 1923, when Mustafa
Kemal declared that Turkey would be a repKurban Bayramıublic.
Halloween
31st
October.
During this celebration, people, mostly the youth of today, dress up and collect
sweets and chocolates from their neighbours.
At their homes, people decorate their houses, carve faces onto pumpkins and get
ready for “trick or treaters”. There are also numerous events that happen in towns
and cities like firework displays, fairs, carnivals.
October
El dia de la hispanidad
12th October
Hispanic Day marks the anniversary of the
date that Christopher Columbus first set foot
in the Americas. It is a public holiday in
Spain on October 12. The king of Spain su-
pervises the raising of the Spanish national
flag in the center of Madrid on Hispanic Day.
He and the prime minister lead a military pa-
rade after that. The parade includes repre-
sentatives from most of Spain's military
units and various military vehicles. Armed
forces' planes perform aerobatics above the
parade route and display yellow and red
smoke to represent the Spanish flag.
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23. All Saints’ Day
1st November
It is a religious day celebrated on 1st
November by the Catholic Church, in honour of all
the saints, known and unknown.
All Souls' Day is on November 2nd
: people remember their dead they offer flowers
and go to pray on their graves.
Armistice day
11th November
It is a bank holiday; France commemorates the end of the
First World War in 1918.
There are ceremonies in all the cities, towns and villages
and wreaths are taken to the cenotaphs.
November
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25. Il giorno di Santo Stefano
December 26th
It is a bank holiday in Italy.
In some places, St Stephen’s feast day is
traditionally a day for many Italians to visit the
Nativity scenes at the churches. Other events on St
Stephen’s Day in different parts of Italy include
markets, carnivals and festivals.
Dia de la Constitucion
6th December
Constitution Day marks the anniversary of a
referendum held in Spain on December 6th,
1978. Each year, a selection of high school
students is invited to read the Constitution in
the Lower House of the parliamentary build-
ings in Madrid a few days before December 6.
To celebrate this important day the congress
of deputies celebrates an open day in the Pa-
lacio de las Cortes.
New year’s eve
31st December
Nochevieja
People who live in Madrid go to the square “la puerta
del sol “ in the center of the capital to follow the tradi-
tion which consists in eating 12 grapes at the same
time as the 12 strokes of midnight to be lucky all year
long. Many people follow the tradition on television.
L’Immacolata Concezione
December 8 th
Immaculate Conception, a holi-
day celebrated on December 8th, is the
start of Italy's winter holiday season. It is
tradition to decorate your Christmas tree
on that day. It is a bank holiday.
Christmas Day
25th
December
On Christmas Day fami-
lies get together to cel-
ebrate. Houses are dec-
orated with a Christmas
tree and children re-
ceive presents from
Santa Claus.
December
