Spain has two public holidays in early December which frequently type a “puente” (bridge), permitting employees within the nation to get pleasure from an prolonged break earlier than Christmas. Why is December eighth a public vacation?
In 2025, December sixth and eighth fall on a Saturday and Monday respectively, which signifies that employees in Spain can get pleasure from a three-day weekend.
Typically this vacation is known as a puente or bridge as a result of employees usually take the seventh off work in between the 2 holidays in an effort to get pleasure from an extended break.
This 12 months, nevertheless, the seventh falls on a Sunday, so it is already a day without work work for most individuals.
READ ALSO: The public holidays in Spain in 2026
The sixth and the eighth are non-replaceable nationwide holidays, which means that regional governments can not swap them for different days, which basically ensures that they’re public holidays throughout the nation’s 17 areas and two autonomous cities.
It additionally signifies that the vacation will not transfer to Friday the fifth in any area.
Because the sixth falls on a Saturday this 12 months it would already be a non-working day for a lot of, though those that usually work on the weekends can have it off. This explains why most outlets in Spain might be closed on Saturday the sixth.
Likewise, they will even be shut on Monday the eighth. That means it is advisable to be sure to fill up on the grocery store on Friday December fifth, as most is not going to be open for the following three days.
Many folks in Spain additionally take alternative to journey throughout today, usually to go to different cities in Spain for Christmas markets and festive lights.
So why is it that Spain has two public holidays so near Christmas?
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Friday December eighth – Feast of the Immaculate Conception
As you will have guessed from the title, Spain’s el Día de la Inmaculada Concepción (Immaculate Conception Day) is a public vacation with non secular origins.
The origin of this celebration will be traced again to the mid-Nineteenth century and Pope Pius XI, who needed to commemorate the start of the Virgin Mary.
According to the Catholic Church, La Virgen María was born on September eighth, subsequently they subtracted 9 months to make the day of her immaculate conception December eighth.
In Spain, this present day additionally marks the date of The Battle of Empel, often known as the Miracle of Empel (El Milagro de Empel in Spanish).
It was an sudden Spanish victory in 1585 within the Netherlands as a part of the Eighty Years’ War, the place a significantly outnumbered and surrounded Spanish power close to the village of Empel gained in opposition to its Dutch enemies.
Prior to battle, a Spanish soldier who was digging a trench allegedly unearthed a portray of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, seen by Spanish troops as an indication from God. A sudden drop in temperatures meant that Dutch ships had been trapped in by frozen water and Spaniards might assault and beat them in battle, confirming the divine intervention.
In 1892 Maria Cristina of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain, proclaimed Mary of the Immaculate Conception patroness of the complete Spanish Infantry, and thus December eighth turned a public vacation in Spain.
December sixth – Constitution Day
On December sixth 1978, thousands and thousands of Spaniards voted in favour of the nation’s first democratic structure throughout a referendum, the end result of Spain’s transition to democracy after a long time beneath Franco’s dictatorship.
It was checked by Nobel laureate Camilo José Cela and it’s considered one of Europe’s least reformed constitutions, having solely been modified on a few events in its historical past.
Since 1983, each December sixth has been a public vacation within the nation.
There are not any massive air reveals or navy parades as throughout Spain’s National Day on October twelfth, however folks in Spain’s capital can go to the Spanish Parliament and Senate without spending a dime on El Día de la Constitución.
