How many public holidays does Spain have?

Today is a public holiday in Madrid. (Or as my British friends say, a 'bank' holiday.)

It's Father's Day and Saint Joseph's Day. (Or as my Spanish neighbors say, Día del Padre / Día de San Jose.)

This is a regional holiday, not a national one.

A family member back in Louisiana commented recently that Spain sure had a lot more holidays than the USA. It seemed that way to me, too, so I thought I'd tally them up and compare. Well, it turns out that this year there are 10 federal holidays in the USA, but only 8 national holidays in Spain.

Still, that doesn't quite tell the whole story.

First of all, here are the US federal holidays for 2015:

Thursday, January 1	New Year’s Day
Monday, January 19	Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 16	George Washington’s Birthday / Presidents' Day
Monday, May 25	Memorial Day
Saturday, July 4	Independence Day (Observed on Friday, July 3 this year)
Monday, September 7	Labor Day (Always on the first Monday in September)
Monday, October 12	Columbus Day
Wednesday, November 11	Veterans Day
Thursday, November 26	Thanksgiving Day (Always on the 4th Thursday of November)
Friday, December 25	Christmas Day

Now here is the list of national holidays in Spain for 2015:

Thursday, January 1	New Year’s Day
Tuesday, January 6	Kings Day / Epiphany
Friday, April 3	Good Friday
Friday, May1	Labor Day
Saturday, August 15	Assumption of Mother Mary
Monday, October 12	Spanish National Day
Tuesday, December 8	The Day of the Immaculate Conception
Friday, December 25	Christmas Day

Notice that because the USA's July 4th holiday falls on a Saturday this year, it will be observed on Friday July 3rd, but that in Spain there is no such compensation for the holiday that falls on Saturday August 15th. This is because Spain actually considers Saturday a work day. Thus, people like me who work Monday through Friday won't get that holiday off this year.

This year we in Spain are also missing a holiday that falls on a Sunday: Constitution Day, December 6th. When a holiday falls on a Sunday, the Spanish sometimes do what the Yanks do, and observe the holiday on the subsequent Monday. Although Spain is not doing that with this year's Constitution Day, some of the country's Regions have come to the rescue and christened the Monday a holiday. 

Therefore, it looks like the USA actually has more public holidays than Spain – especially when you consider that in the USA both Saturday and Sunday holidays are always compensated for.

Wait, though—there is another factor to consider. Each of Spain's 17 Regions have their own holidays. For example, there are four Regional holidays for the Community of Madrid this year:

Thursday March 19 - Saint Joseph's Day
Thursday April 2 - Holy Thursday
Saturday May 2 - Community of Madrid Day
Thursday June 4 - Corpus Christi Day

And the other Regions are just as  generous, with almost all having four other public holidays falling Monday through Friday. (Only the Canary Islands Region has fewer: three.) In fact, this year several of the Regions have elected to give their citizens back the Constitution Day some in Spain are missing by observing it on the Monday. (Scroll down below for a list of all the Regional holidays in Spain.)

Now back in the USSA, many states also observe their own holidays, but most have only one or two of these. Nevertheless, only two of the 50 states seem to have matched the Spanish regional norm of four: Indiana, which observes Good Friday, Primary Election Day, General Election Day and Lincoln's Birthday and North Carolina, with Good Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas.

So, if we consider the fact that added to the 8 (usually 9) national holidays there are four regional holidays almost everywhere in the country, it looks like overall Spain pulls ahead on the total number per year.

Then we can throw city and town holidays into the mix. In Spain most of these have multiple local holidays and even small towns and villages often have one or two. For example, in the City of Madrid there are 3 in 2015:

Friday, May 15 - Saint Isidro Day (Patron Saint of the City)
Wednesday, September 9 - Santa Maria de la Cabeza Day (Saint Isidro's wife)
Monday, November 9 - The Virgin of Almudena Day - (Patroness of the City)

Barcelona has two:

June 1 - Saint John's Night
September 24 - Día de la Merced

Valencia also has two:

January 22 - Saint Vincent The Martyr's Day
April 13 - Saint Vincent Ferrer's Day

And Seville has two, too:

Wednesday April 22- Wednesday of the Spring Fair (Replaces the usual May 30th Saint Fernando holiday, which falls on a Saturday this year)
Thursday June 4 - Corpus Christi Day

Now, I don't know of too many American cities that have two or three local public holidays.

Conclusion: I think we can safely say that, yes, Spain does have more public / bank holidays than the United States.

Or to put it in sports terms: Spain 14, USA 10.

Happy holidays!

Carlos

Here are the 2015 public holidays in Spain's Autonomous Regions.
Andalusia
February 28th: Andalusia Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Aragon
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 23rd: Saint George’s Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Asturias
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
September 8th: Asturian Regional Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Balearic Islands
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Basque Country
March 19th: Saint Joseph
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
July 25th: Saint James
Canary Islands (Only 3 holidays regional holidays in the Canaries!) 
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
May 30th: Canary Islands Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
Cantabria
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
September 15th: Patron Saint of Cantabria (Virgen de la Bien Aparecida)
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
Castilla-La Mancha
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
June 4th: Corpus Christi
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Castilla y León
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 23rd: Castile and León Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Cataluña
April 6th: Easter Monday
June 24th: Saint John's Day
September 11th: The Diada, Catalonia Regional Day
December 26th: Saint Stephen's Day
Ceuta
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
September 25th: Festival of Abraham’s Sacrifice
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Extremadura
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
September 8th: Extremadura Regional Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Galicia
March 20th: Day after Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
July 25th: Saint James, Galician Regional Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
La Rioja
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
June 9th: La Rioja Regional Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Comunidad de Madrid
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
May 2nd: Community of Madrid Day
June 4th: Corpus Christi Day
Melilla
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
September 25th: Festival of Abraham’s Sacrifice
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Murcia
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
June 9th: Murcia Regional Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Navarre
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
July 25th: Saint James
Valencia
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 6th: Easter Monday
October 9th: Valencian Regional Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day

The Deadly Cook: assistant chef slowly poisoned restaurant staff

A 55-year-old Spanish cook is behind bars on suspicion of poisoning the food of at least 21 of his coworkers, possibly resulting in the death of one. His actions paint a perverse picture of betrayal, meticulously dosed out in secret over many years.

The city of Gijon is a lovely seaside resort in the region of Asturias in the north of Spain. Famous for its warmth and hospitality, it is a festive place with a rich history and an equally rich cuisine. Food here is typically accompanied by some of the local alcoholic cider, known in Spanish as sidra, and restaurants specializing in Asturian food and cider are called sidrerias.

Tino Comeron and Chelo Toyos opened El Lavaderu sidreria 14 years ago. Like many of the sidrerias in the region, it has imposing stone walls, sturdy wooden beams, large wooden tables and hefty wooden barrels to store the cider in. It was a prosperous business that kept growing to meet demand.

In 2004 Tino and Chelo decided they needed an assistant chef. They hired Andres Avelino, a family acquaintance of Chelo, who had run a bar before and who owned a tiny store of his own in a neighboring town. 'A very nice man, always willing to do favors,' Chelo recently recalled.

Andres also had a friend named Eva who worked in the kitchen at El Lavaderu. “They were old friends, for over 20 years,” waiter Gustavo Vera, 35, told the El Pais newspaper. His co-worker Benjamin Menendez agreed: “They went out for a drink, dinner...always together.” Vity Mancha who worked there for three years as extra help said: “They went on holiday abroad...together.” A Mediterranean cruise, Paris, Vienna, Thailand...

In 2006 business was still thriving at El Lavaderu, but something else began to go wrong. Alberto, the head chef, who had what has been described as a great relationship with Andres, became mysteriously ill. His skin reddened, he had trouble breathing, and he had vomiting spells. He kept getting worse and worse, but no cause could be found. He ended up taking a leave of absence and returning to his home town. After that, others began to have similar symptoms: kitchen staff, waiters, the owners... “We thought it was an allergy,” Chelo said. Almost everyone was ill. Only Andres and Eva seemed unaffected.

The same chronic health problems continued. Then, in May 2011, Andres and Juan Gil, the chef at the time, were working in the kitchen, when Juan collapsed to the floor, an apparent victim of a heart attack. People say Andres appeared distraught and cried his eyes out at the funeral.

In January 2012, Tino and Chelo sold the restaurant. Eight months later the new owner, Juan Luis Alfonso, took sick. He decided all of this was too strange and contacted the police about the mystery illness he and so many of his staff suffered from. He gave them the names of 14 people he knew had been affected – later the names of former employees were added to the list, bringing the total to 21.
He explained that when anyone took time off from work, they stopped having symptoms. No itching, no dizziness, no vomiting. On sick leave, vacation, or a few days off, they began to feel as good as new. All were cured, as if by magic, of the strange disease. When they returned to work, the symptoms soon returned.

He also told the police that some of the waiters had become suspicious of the assistant chef. One thing they all had in common was that Andres prepared a sandwich for them daily – and they claimed he always made sure they ate it.

As the staff began to connect the dots, they realized that the symptoms began when they drank anything

alcoholic, whether a sip of cider or mug of beer. And there was something about the timing, too. It was not simply when they drank alcohol that they felt ill, but when they drank it after eating something Andres had given them. The police asked that they keep an eye on him and make sure that no one, customer or colleague, ate or drank anything he prepared.

One day a co-worker spying on Andres saw him take out a little vial of liquid and pour it into a cup of coffee he was making for someone. Juan Luis Alfonso provided it to the police for testing. The result left no doubt that it contained a dangerous substance – calcium cyanamide, a drug used in the treatment of alcoholism. A clear liquid that has no flavor, this medication can cause drowsiness, dizziness, vomiting, skin irritation, tachycardia, hypertension, multiple organ failure and even death.
obtained the medicine from a pharmacy near his place of work. Something he did often and in large quantities, according to the police investigation.

It turned out Andres, who reportedly drank profusely each night, was under treatment for alcoholism. He easily obtained the medicine from a pharmacy near his place of work. Something he did often and in large quantities, according to the police investigation.

Andres is now in jail awaiting trial on fourteen charges of attempted homicide. That number is likely to increase. He has been declared sane, but no one has put forth a motive for his crimes. Maybe it was just for the pleasure of seeing others suffer.

Each of the victims considered Andres a friend. He spent time with them, hugged them, accompanied some of them to the doctor, knew their families, even had the keys to some of their houses. “A normal fellow” – “affectionate” – “nice” – “attentive,” are some of the terms used to describe the man they thought they knew.

One thing is certain, however: almost no one any longer believes that the cause of Juan Gil's death was natural, although nothing can be proven since his unsuspecting family had his body cremated. The one exception to the doubters is Eva, who seems as immune to the suspicions about her friend as she was to the strange epidemic that struck those around her. She continues to work in the restaurant's kitchen, but reportedly refuses to talk about what happened. People will have to wait until she takes the stand to hear what she has to say about the relationship between the assistant chef and the poison, the illness and the death at El Lavaderu.