After having very different “holidays” due to the coronavirus, many hope that the holidays of 2021 can be celebrated as usual.
The employment calendar for 2021 includes a total of 12 national holidays, the same as in 2020, of which eight will be celebrated together at the national level. The complete list of the eight national holidays for 2021 is as follows:
- 1 January (Friday): New Year’s Day
- 2 April: Good Friday
- 1 May (Saturday): Labour Day
- 12 October (Tuesday): Spain’s National Day
- 1 November (Monday): All Saints’ Day
- 6 December (Monday): Constitution Day
- 8 December (Wednesday): Day of the Immaculate Conception
- 25 December (Saturday): Christmas
In the case of another three common holidays, Wednesday 6 January (Epiphany), Thursday 1 April (Maundy Thursday) and Monday 16 August (Monday following Assumption), autonomous communities may establish the celebration on another day. It is interesting to note that all of autonomous communities have kept the day of the Epiphany (6 January) on Wednesday.
Furthermore, Thursday, 1 April will be a holiday in all of the autonomous communities except for Catalonia and Valencia. Likewise, Monday, 16 August will be a holiday in Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, the Canary Islands and Castilla y León. The rest of the communities have opted to move the holiday, which falls on a Sunday, to another day during the year.
Friday, 19 March (Saint Joseph) will only be a holiday in Valencia, Madrid, Murcia, Galicia, Navarra and the Basque Country. Autonomous community and local holidays must be added to the national holidays.
In summary, if we organise our calendars right, we will be able to enjoy two long, holiday weekends: the first, 12 October (Tuesday) by requesting Monday 11 off, and the second on the long weekend of the Constitution, 6 December (Monday), stretching it out to reach 8 December (Wednesday, Day of the Immaculate Conception) by requesting 7 December (Tuesday) off.
María José López · Manager of Payroll and Social Security at Acos Accounting Solutions