Red days in December - What is a red day? This is a national holiday, similar to a Bank Holiday back in the UK, so some supermarkets will be closed or open for much shorter hours, banks, offices and schools will be CLOSED.
6th December - Constitution Day (Día de la Constitución)
This public holiday is always celebrated on 6th December and marks the approval of the Spanish constitution by the Spanish people back in 1978.
If December 6th falls on a Sunday, regional or local authorities can move the public holiday to a different date. If December 6 falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, many businesses and organizations are also closed on Monday, or the Friday.
As part of the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, a general election took place in 1977 to convene the Cortes Generales (Parliament) for the purpose of drafting and approving a constitution (this is called Cortes Constituyentes).
On the days before Constitution Day, children and young people have extra lessons on the history, politics and constitution of Spain. Each year, a selection of high school students are invited to read the Constitution in the Lower House of the parliamentary buildings in Madrid a few days before December 6th
A seven-member panel was selected among the elected members of the Cortes to work on a draft of the Constitution to be submitted to the Cortes. These so-called Fathers of the Constitution were Gabriel Cisneros, José Pedro Pérez-Llorca, Miguel Herrero de Miñon, Miquel Roca, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, Gregorio Peces-Barba and Jordi Solé Tura.
The Constitution was approved by the Cortes on 31 October 1978, and by the Spanish people in a referendum on 6 December 1978, before being promulgated by King Juan Carlos on 27 December. The Constitution set out how the government would be run, what powers they had and determined the governmental system that Spain would operates on.
Constitution day is therefore a celebration of the day Spain became a democracy and 6th December has since been a national holiday in Spain.
The day is seen as the start of the December holidays and a long weekend is normally taken in conjunction with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
In recent years however, Constitution Day has become more popular for protest marches and political statements.
8th December - Immaculate Conception
Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic holy day and a public holiday in Spain. The holiday falls on 8 December every year and is often thought of as the beginning of the Christmas season in Spain.
It is a Holy day of Obligation. This means that all Catholics attend mass on this day.
Background
Theological controversy surrounded the Feast of the Immaculate Conception for centuries. However popular celebration of this holiday dates back to at least the eighth century. The argument related to the meaning of the word “immaculate”, which in this context refers to the belief that Jesus’ mother Mary was conceived without original sin, according to Christian belief.
Many theologians throughout Christian history, including St Thomas Aquinas, questioned the Immaculate Conception. It remained open for debate for many years until Pope Pius IX proclaimed it to be an essential dogma in the Catholic Church on December 8, 1854. The written document on this is known as the Ineffabilis Deus. Since then, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the belief that Mary was born without sin and that God chose her to be Jesus’ mother. Many Anglicans in the world also hold this belief.
Normally a colourful procession departs from the Church of San Jaime and Santa Maria, (no times have been announced). The town’s beauty Queens and Princesses past and present are normally part of the procession people will be wearing their sashes and carrying offerings of flowers for the Virgin.
The day will end with a procession through the Old Town
and of course, 25th December - Christmas day
This is very much a family day.
Read more about what happens in Benidorm over Christmas and New Year.
and be prepared - December 28th is 'Día de los santos inocentes' or 'Day of the Innocent Saints' and is very like April Fool's Day in the UK
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Easter (Semana Santa) in Benidorm, Easter is a highly religious festival and is recognised and commemorated in every city, town and village throughout Spain, and is as important as Christmas.
Benidorm Fiesta Dates for 2024
General information about Semana Santa
Easter is a very important time for Spanish families, so many take time off work and travel back to their home towns to spend time with their loved ones.
The processions begin on Palm Sunday the week before Easter, followed by those on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While things start off solemn, once Christ is Resurrected, the tense atmosphere changes and on Easter Sunday the solemn processions are replaced by more colourful, cheerful parades with floats being decorated with floral bouquets, and lots of music supplied by brass bands. This is the time to eat, drink and dance in the streets.
The varias cofradias and hermandads, (brotherhoods) will have been preparing and practicing for months for their displays of piety and devotion to God in Semana Santa, Holy Week.
The religious statues from the churches are brought out on floats and carried aloft by teams of 'penitentes' as they are paraded around the local streets to the sound of solemn marching music – the participants copy the gait of the shackled Christ.
During the processions you will see people wearing (penitents) pointed hoods, which to us look like a variation of the Klu Klux Klan, these outfits date well before the days of the KKK decided to wear them and date back to 1521.
These outfits are worn as a penance for their sins, some will be walking barefoot and even chained. There are generally 2 floats one with the statue of the virgin Mary and the other with Jesus on the cross. It is seen as a real honour to be asked to help carry these very heavy and large floats.
The brotherhoods walk in silence and are joined by mourners – women dressed in black, with veiled faces, the mourners symbolise the mourning of the death of Christ and they carry lit candles, this creates a lot of melted wax on the streets and quite often you will see the local children compete to see who can craft the biggest balls of wax.
Every so often the processions come to a standstill so that the people carrying the floats can rest or change over, and when they do, you will see children bending down underneath the candles to collect the hot dripping wax and add it to their ball.
Easter, Semana Santa in Benidorm
2024 dates
March 24th - Palm Sunday
March 29th - Holy Friday/Good Friday - RED DAY (Public Holiday)
March 31st - Easter Sunday
April 1st - Easter Monday - RED DAY (Public Holiday)
Schedule for the main Events 2024
Palm Sunday 24th March
Between 10:00 and 12:00 hours. PROCESSION OF RAMOS and Holy Mass in each of the parishes.
20:00 - PROCESSION OF THE ROYAL BROTHERHOOD OF NTRA. MRS. HOPE AND PEACE . Station of Penance with Our Father Jesus of Health and Humility and Our Lady . Mrs. of La Esperanza and La Paz . Departure: Good Shepherd Parish. Itinerary: Puig Campana, Roldán, Almendros, Limones, Maravall, Apolo XI, Jazmín, Plaza de España, Puig Campana, ending inside the Church.
Holy Wednesday March 27th
22:00 - PROCESSION OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF OUR FATHER JESUS NAZARENO . Departure from the Parish of San Jaime and Santa Ana. Itinerary: Plaza de San Jaime, Mayor, Alameda, Plaza de la Cruz, Ruzafa, La Biga, Tomás Ortuño, Apolo XI, Almendros, Paseo de la Carretera, Santa Faz and Plaza de Saint James.
Holy Thursday, March 28th
21:00 - PROCESSION OF SILENCE . Joint procession of the Sacramental Brotherhood of the Holy Supper , of the Brotherhood of Stmo. Christ of Forgiveness and Good Death and the Virgin of Sorrows . Departure from Our Lady of Almudena Parish. Itinerary: Ginés Cartagena, Capitán Cortés, Paseo de la Castellana, Velázquez, Acacias, Goya, Jardines, and Ginés Cartagena, ending inside the Church.
21:00 - SOLEMN PROCESSION OF THE BROTHERHOOD PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN OF GETSEMANI . Departure from the Parish of San Juan Bautista. Itinerary: Plaza de las Tiendas, Pajares, Mont-Benidorm, Vicente Llorca Alòs, Vinaroz, Santander, Mont-Benidorm, Pajares and Plaza de las Tiendas, ending inside the Church.
23:30 - Holy Hour and Via Crucis through the streets adjacent to the Church of San Jaime and Santa Ana.
Good Friday, March 29th
07:00 - Departure from the Parish of San Jaime and Santa Ana towards Mount Calvary, where the Via Crucis and Sermon of the Seven Words take place .
20:30 - GENERAL PROCESSION OF THE HOLY BURIAL . Departure from the Parish of San Jaime and Santa Ana. All the Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of Benidorm also participate in this Procession. Itinerary: Plaza de San Jaime, Mayor, Alameda, Los Ángeles, Pintor Lozano, Metge Pérez Martorell, Martínez Alejos, Paseo de la Carretera, Santa Faz and Plaza de San Jaime.
23:00 - Penitential Via Crucis departing from the Parish of San Juan Bautista and arriving at the Hermitage of the Virgen del Mar, at the top of Tossal de la Cala.
Easter Sunday, 31st March
08:00 - The Embassy . Departure from the Church of San Jaime and Santa Ana of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Sorrows with the thrones of the Risen Lord and the Blessed Virgin towards the Alameda, in the solemn PROCESSION OF THE MEETING .
Photo 2023 The Royal Angel
Holy Week in Benidorm, conclude on Easter Sunday where the thrones of the Lord and the Virgin take to the streets from the church of San Jaime in the procession of the Encounter.
*Please note the above has been translated from Spanish to English and all times can be subject to last minute changes*
Benidorm weather in March
Benidorm enjoys comfortable and relatively high air temperatures in Spring. March in Benidorm is typically the 4th coldest month and the 6th wettest month of the year.
Daytime temperature 17.7°C.
Nightly temperature - 7.4°C.
Average temperature - 12.5°C.
Daily sunshine - 7.3 hrs.
Average rainfall - 34 mm.
Rainy days - 11 days.
Sea temperature - 14.4°C.
Humidity - 65%.
Windspeed - 11.9kph.
See the Weather Page for daily updates and all other average monthly temperatures
EASTER FOOD
Chocolate eggs are not associated with Easter in Spain although you will see some available in the supermarkets.
The Spanish celebrate with a round sweet bread called Mona de Pascua, this is sprinkled with sugar and topped with a hard boiled egg. These are eaten on Easter Monday and are a sign of the end of lent, when the whole family will go out for a picnic in the country.
Some families now prefer the more modern method of preparing this cake which involves chocolate and a lot of vibrant colours and cakes this version would be topped with nuts, candied fruits, or chocolate, with chocolate eggs (instead of the hard boiled) with colourful feathers and figurines of baby chicks!
Another favourite to be served during Easter are Torrijas, which are bread, dipped in milk and egg, then fried, before being sprinkled in sugar and drenched in honey or cinnamon, this is very similar to French Toast and is also known as Spanish Bread Pudding. Find the recipe for this tasty treat HERE
A typical family Easter Sunday dinner will generally consist of garlic soup (sopa de ajo) with a baked egg in the middle and fresh seafood.
Recipe for Mona de Pascua (Traditional)
Ingredients:
1/2 kg - Flour
75 g - Sugar
50 g - Butter
3 - Eggs
10 gr. - Salt
1 - Lemon rind, grated
50 g. - Yeast
Milk
For decoration:
Hard boiled eggs
Oil
Egg, beaten
Knead the flour with the sugar, eggs, salt, yeast, butter and lemon rind.
Add the milk slowly until you have a homogeneous mass that pulls away from your hands.
Let stand for 30 minutes.
Shape it into a mountain, making a depression in the top, spreading it out until it forms a crown.
Brush with oil and firmly press in the boiled eggs in their shells.
Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.
Allow to ferment for 20 minutes and bake at 170ºC for 45 minutes.
BENIDORM FALLAS FIESTA 15th to 19th MARCH
This fiesta goes back to Pagan times and comes from the Latin word Facla which means Torch. This is one of the biggest most popular and unique of all the fiestas held through out the year, it is colourful and very very noisy with lots of firecrackers from the early hours until late at night. This fiesta always end on 19th March which is another very important day here in Spain, Fathers Day.
Today the Pagan side of it is forgotten and San José (Saint Joseph), the patron saint of carpenters, is the official focus for the festival. Carpenters used to hang up planks of wood called ‘parots’ in the winter to support their candles when they were working. At the beginning of spring these pieces of wood would be burned as a way of celebrating the end of dark, winter working days. After a while they began to put clothing on the ‘parot’ and then started to try to make it identifiable with a well-known local personality giving the people the opportunity to publicly mock and/or criticise unpopular events or people. These are what are today called the ‘ninots’, the enormous cardboard, wooden, polyurethane, Styrofoam, cork, plaster and papier maché figures of today. The authorities later decided to link the burning of the ‘parots’ with Saint Joseph’s Day to try to stop it getting out of control!. So basically this fiesta marks the beginning of SPRING and fresh beginnings.
Benidorm Fallas Fiesta, March
Each district and in Benidorm there are three, Falla Centro (Plaza Doctor Fleming), Falla Rincón de Loix (Av . Ametlla de Mar, in front of Burger King) and Els Tolls, Calle Tomas Ortuno will spend the entire preceding year constructing these elaborate giant Ninots.
These Ninots are displayed for 4 days to give people time to inspect and admire them.
These are burnt (the Crema) on the 19th see schedule below.
And please don’t think you can rest up during the day to prepare yourself for the evening’s bombardments. After you’ve been unceremoniously startled awake at 8 o’clock.
Falla - Although this fiesta is called THE Fallas, the falla is the name of the effigy/statue.
Plantà - This is the name given to the act of assembling and placing of the statues.
Ninot - This is the name given to the figures
Cridà - This is a call made by the authorities and the falleros / to the citizens and visitors, encouraging them go out to celebrate.
Mascletà - Not to be confused with normal fireworks, the mascletà is one of the most important acts of Fallas. The word comes from masclets, which are a type of firecrackers the sound can reach over 130 decibels. However loud you think this is going to be you’ll be wrong. There is no way of beginning to describe the amount of noise generated. Pregnant women are forbidden from attending, keep your mouth open to allow the sound to escape and not echo around your head – so they say – but be prepared to feel the ground shake beneath your feet.
Despertà - The falleros (men) and falleras (women) walk through the streets of the town at 8 in the morning, accompanied by a band, while throwing firecrackers and wake up the neighbours so that they take to the streets for the celebrations.
Ofrena: This is the flower offering where the falleros and citizens dressed in typical traditional costumes will give gifts to their patron saint.
Nit del Foc - This is the night in which the longest fireworks display of all the Fallas will be held, it always takes place in the evening/night before San José (Saint Joseph’s day)
Cremà - The main event of the Fallas, this is held late at night/early hours of the morning of the 19th, this is when the beautiful monuments are burned.
BENIDORM FALLAS FIESTA SCHEDULE 2024
March 15th
"PLANTÁ" (setting up) of the Fallas in all 3 districts.
10:00. Everyone prepared for the plant.
14:00. Traditional food being served with the Fallas artists.
21:30 All the details of the monuments will be ready and dinner is served.
March 16th
10:00. The jury will take a tour of the Fallas monuments to award the prize to the best.
14:00 Lunch time.
16:00 Offering Patron Saint Festivities.
20:00 Visit of the commissions festive
March 17th
20:00 Parade and breakfast offered by our Children's President David Brazales Fuster.
12:00 Parades through the neighbourhoods and we receive the Falla Centro and Falla Corner of Loix.
17:00 Visit our brothers of fire
23:00 Parades through the neighbourhood with the band “El nard”
March 18th
08:00 Wake up and breakfast offered for our Fallera Mayor Children Alejandra Tomás Ortiz.
16:30 Exit towards Europa Avenue to offer to our patron saint.
21:30 Dinner and then the DJ Carlos Devesa will encourage us evening.
02.30h. We will set up the fences to the mascletà.
March 19th. Saint Joseph day (Spanish Fathers Day)
08:00 - 08:30 Desperta in the streets surround Benidorm Centro, Els Tolls and Rincon
11:30 - Falla Els Tools mass at Buen Pastor Church
12:00 - Falla Rincon Mas at Nuestra Senora del Mar Church
13:00 - Fala Benidorm Centro, mass at Saint James Church
14:00 - Magnificent Mascleta (firecrackers sound show) at Falla Benidorm Centro Plaza SS MM los Reyes de Espana. Falla Els Tolls, Thomos Ortuno Street and Rincon Avd Mediterraneo/Ametlla de Mar.
18:30 - Parade of floats with the participants of all 3 fallas, starting at Marques de Comillas, Almendros Av, Marte St, Venus, Ruzafa, Martinez Alejos av, Alcoy av.
Main Parade Route
CREMAS
22:30 Rincon de Loix Childrens
23:00 Els Tols and Centro, Childrens
23:30 Rincon, adults
00:00 - Centro, adults
00:30 - Els Tolls, adults.
Falla “Rincón de Loix” (Mediterráneo avenue/ Ametlla de Mar avenue) - Corner of Loix will remain closed to traffic between 07.00 and 15.00 hours the section of Mediterranean Avenue between Ametlla del Mar and Castellón, central direction. During the shooting of the Mascletà, vehicles will not be allowed to pass in this section in the direction of Rincon de Loix.
Specific information for the individual areas.
Els Tolls
MARCH 15
10:00. Everyone prepared for the plant.
14:00 Our traditional food of the plant where we will share a table with the artists falleros.
21:30 All of them will be there monument carvings finished and we, after an intense day, we are going to have dinner.
MARCH 16
10:00 The jury will take a tour for the Fallas monuments award the prize to the best.
18:00 Offering Patron Saint Festivities.
20:00 Visit of the commissions festive.
MARCH 17
12:00 Parades through the neighbourhood and we receive the Falla Centro and Falla Corner of Loix.
17:00 Visit our brothers of fire: Center Fault and Fault Corner of Loix.
23:00 Parades through the neighbourhood with the band “El nard”.
MARCH 18
08:00 Wake up call
16:30 Exit towards Europa Avenue to offer to our patron saint.
20:30 Dinner and then the DJ Carlos Devesa will encourage us evening.
02:30 We will set up the fences to the mascletà.
MARCH 19
08:00 Wake up call
10:15 Prepared to go to mass.
14:00 Mascletà.
18:00 Float parade.
23:00 Cremà children's monument.
00:30 Cremà major monument.
Rincon de Loix
MARCH 15
PLANTÀ under the leadership of our fallero artist.
20:00 We will receive all the commissions that want to participate in the party with us.
21:30 GASTRONOMIC COMPETITION.
SATURDAY, MARCH 16
10:00 Replegà accompanied by the xirimita that will entertain us with her music.
10:00 PLAY- BACKS.
MARCH 17
10.30 Entry of the band music “L’Illa de Benidorm”, for the imposition of the insignia of the Falla Rincón de Loix on our Falleras Mayores and delivery of rewards from the Fallera Central Board. The Falleras Mayores of the commission will impose on their banners, their respective bowties.
17:30 Parade through the neighbourhood and we will receive the Els Tolls fault and Benidorm fails.
23:00 Party night in the tent.
MARCH 18
08:00 WAKE UP call
12.00 We will carry out a parade for our neighbourhood.
17:30 Parade to meet the Falla Benidorm, Falla ElsTolls and the local Fallera Board and proceed all together to do the FLOWER OFFERING
23:00 Party night in the tent, organized by the youth of the commission.
MARCH 19
08.00 We will proceed to do the GREAT AWAKENING in honor of Saint José and our Fallera Mayor Olaya García Sánchez.
11:00 The Fallera Mayor and commission we will pardon the ninots that by WW “daring and satirical” will be saved from the flames.”
11:30 At the Fallero Campus we will receive Bonfires Sisters offire of Alicante. MASS IN HONOR TO SAN JOSE.
13:45 Great GLOBOTÀ at the Fallas venue.
14:00 Gran MASCLETÁ on Avd. Mediterranean.
18:30 GREAT MULTICOLOR PARADE OF FLOATS
22:30 CREMÁ Children
23:30 CREMÁ of the main monument.
Falla Benidorm Centro
MARCH 15
19:00 We will receive festive entities from our city.
20:00 Presentation of Nautical Trophies.
MARCH 16
11:00 Replegà through our district.
18:00 Concentration in the Park from Elche. OFFERING to our patron saint.
22:30 Traditional adult playbacks
MARCH 17
10:00 BREAKFAST offered by our PRESIDENTS AND VICE-PRESIDENTS.
11:45 Concentration in the tent. At 12 noon we will receive Falla Rincón at the foot of the monument.
12.30 Parade and visit to the ELS TOLLS fails. IMPORTANT. After eating, will deliver the REWARDS of the Fallera Central Board of Valencia.
17:30 Receive the Falla Els Tolls at the foot of the monument.
18:00 Parade and courtesy visit to the Falla Rincón
22:30 COSTUME CONTEST for children and adults.
23:30 NIGHT PARADE with our Xaranga. At the end, music in our tent.
MARCH 18
12.30h Parade for our Fallero District.
17:30 Concentration in the tent for the OFFERING organized by the Local Fallera Board of Benidorm. PARTY entertained by our DJ resident, DJ KALENDA.
MARCH 19
08.30 WAKE UP.
09.30 BREAKFAST offered by our Children's Fallera Mayor Aitana de Torres Molina and Children's President, Martín Castillo Square.
13:00 Solemn MASS in the parish of San Jaime and Santa Ana.
14:00 Monumental MASCLETÀ.
18:00 Spectacular float parade. (Exit C/Marqués de Comillas)
21:30 Dinner in our tent.
23:00 CREMÀ of the Children's Monument.
00:00 CREMÀ of the Major Monument.
Please note all of the above is translated from Spanish. - IMPORTANT The Tourist Information Office and Benidorm Seriously are not responsible for any changes that may occur to the above schedule.
AVERAGE WEATHER TEMPERATURES FOR MARCH
SPRING STARTS 20th
Daylight saving time 2019 in Spain will begin at 2:00 AM on Sunday, March 31st
Temperature 14°C 57°F
Low Temperature 9°C 48°F
High Temperature 19°C 66°F
Sunshine Hours 9 hrs
Chance of Sunny Day 44 %
Rainfall 23mm
Rainfall days 7 days
Chance of Rain 18 %
Chance of Cloudy Day 18 %
Sea Temperature 15°C 59°F
Chance of Windy Day 18 %
Altea Castell de l'Olla Fireworks - The Castell de l'Olla fireworks display is held in honour of San Lorenzo Fiesta, on the second Saturday in August every year. This year it will take place on Saturday 12th August 2023.
More information on Altea in general can be found HERE
This FREE event is one of the largest firework displays in Europe and has had over 60,000 people attend from all over the world every year since 1986! - Altea's Castell de la l´Olla has been a tradition for over thirty years; a festival of light and gunpowder, which is unique in being the only festival in the world with a firework display at sea, with the pyrotechnics launched from platforms each weighing 15 tonnes.
The setting for the event is the pebbled 1.4 kilometre long beach of L´Olla situated just on the outskirts of Altea (Altea Hills end). Through out the evening the atmosphere builds until midnight, when the show begins! The fireworks are set off from floating platforms and accompanied by a live orchestra.
The firework display starts at 23.55 but many people make a whole afternoon/night of the event and you do need to get there early to find your spot on the beach, this is a real family event, so take a picnic. The display lasts for around 20-30 minutes. Every year more than three thousand kilos of gunpowder are used in this event. The party goes on long after the fireworks have finished with plenty of music and dancing.
All the surrounding roads are closed for this event so if you are planning to drive get there early as parking is a problem, you need to park in the village and walk to the event, don´t know where you are going don´t worry just follow the crowds, there are also police and event organisers that will help you find your way.
Extra trams will also be running for this event, with a special service between 9:00 p.m. on Saturday and 02:00 a.m. on Sunday every 40 minutes.or catch the No 10 bus from Benidorm.
There are two chiringuitos on the beach that will be serving drinks and tapas, but these will get very very busy so be prepared to queue ore take your own provisions.
Altea Castell de l'Olla Fireworks - Video from the 30th anniversary in 2016