Religious feasts

The calendar of public holidays reflects both the historical influence exerted by the Catholic Church in Spanish society and the fact that the majority of the population belongs to this faith. Article 37.2 of Spain’s Labour Code (Estatuto de Trabajadores) states that public holidays, which are paid and can not be made up, shall not exceed the number of fourteen, and, despite the decrease, over the last several decades, in religious festivities, religious holidays remain predominant compared to non-religious ones.

The Agreements of Cooperation signed by the Sate in 1992 with the Islamic Commission of Spain, Comisión Islámica de España (CIE), the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Spain (FCIE), and the Federation of Evangelical Religious Groups of Spain (FEREDE), stipulated that the holidays and religious commemorations of these denominations could be substituted for those established in the general regime of the Labour Code, in article 37.2, with the same characteristics of days that are paid and cannot be made up, as long as there is an agreement between the employee and the company. The following list was established.