The Spanish people love dancing and singing and having fiestas for any festival. Many of these fiestas have their origins rooted in pagan and pre-catholic customs. There are thousands of fiestas every year in almost all parts of Spain. Here are some of the most famous ones:

• Semana Santa is the Easter festival. It is famous for its Holy Week processions which take place between Palm Sunday and Good Friday and on Easter Sunday. There are enormous heavily ornamented floats with the images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary. They may be carried n the shoulders of men escorted by hundreds of penitents often wearing hooded costumes.

• Carnival: It is a pre Lent festival with obvious pagan roots. It was banned but is now reinstated and celebrated all over Spain. The most famous ones are held in Cadiz in Southern Spain an on the Canary Islands.

• Reyes is the Feast of Three Kings. In Spain Christmas gifts for children are given by the Three Kings and not Santa Claus. There are parades on the previous day depicting the arrival of the Three Kings.

• One of the most well known Fiestas is the Fallas de Valencia. Elaborate tableaux of paper mache and wood are created, some taking months to make and costing thousands of Euros which go up in flames on March 19, the feast day of Saint Joseph.

• Seville Feria is a famous Andalusian ‘feria’ which combine promenades of horsemen, bull fights and colorful flamenco dressed people gather to eat, drink and dance. This fair lasts for a week and usually takes place two weeks after Easter.

• Romeria del Rocio is a religious pilgrimage in Spain where about a million people gather at Whitsuntide (in May or June) in Southern Spain. This is a very colorful fiesta with dancing and colorful dresses. Many come in horses or in ox drawn carriages from different places in Andalusia.

• Every spring and summer, mock battles featuring local folk in period costumes are held. This includes fireworks and a lot of noise and is held in many coastal towns of Spain.

On June 14 which is the summer solstice fires are lit all over Spain. Often there is torch carrying and fire jumping. Most towns and cities of Spain celebrate this in some way or the other.

• Ernest Hemmingway popularized San Fermines, of the Fiesta of Pamplona (July6-14) in his book, ‘The Sun also rises’. This is one of best parties in Europe and involves bull running through the streets of the city. This four minute bull run is followed by a day long partying and feasting.

• Participants douse each other with wine in Wine Battle held. A procession of people who have survived some life threatening disease is held with them riding in a coffin in which they would have been if they had not survived. This is held on July 29 in Santa marta de Ribarteme.

• On the last Wednesday in August, Bunyol a town in Valencia holds Tomatina, a messy tomato battle where thousands of ripe tomatoes are used as artillery. This lasts for an hour and the town council then water cannons them to clean up the mess.