Happy Spanish Labor Day

That’s right, today was Labor Day in Spain and, oddly, they celebrated it by not laboring.  In fact, everything was closed today in observance of the holiday: local bakeries, banks, convenience stores, and even large chain stores. 

Personally, I’m still trying to get used to the concept of “festivals” in Spain.  You see, here there is always some type of celebration/holiday and all of them are observed by the country essentially “shutting down” for the day: the shops close, the busses run on “holiday” schedules which means they have worse frequency, and you generally can’t even buy a loaf of bread.  In a way, I guess it’s good that people here use the holidays as a time to be at home resting with their families; however, I can’t help but think that maybe there are some times that the whole “holiday rest” thing is taken a little overboard. 

Take the month of April, for example.  During April this year, I think I spent more time “on holiday” than I did actually working.  Semana Santa lasted from the 6th to the 13th (eight days) and then, since I live in Castilla y León, I had another holiday (Castilla y León days) which lasted from the 23rd to the 26th (four days).  In total, during the month of April alone I was “on break” 12 of the 30 days… that seemed like a lot to me.  And, don’t forget that most of the days that I spent “on holiday” were days in which the stores were closed.  As a result, I’ve had to learn to plan my grocery shopping well so that I’m never caught in the middle of a holiday without food.  In fact, I liken preparing for a holiday in Spain to preparing for a large snow storm in the USA: you need to stock up on food and water because you won’t be getting to the store anytime soon. 

I suppose it’s the American inside me that makes me feel this way.  After all, in the USA most holidays (with exception to Christmas) are treated as “normal” days: the stores are still open, people usually still go to work, and in general the country doesn’t “stop.”

I guess it all comes down to a different way of looking at things.  Here, perhaps more emphasis is placed on being at home with your family while in the USA we worry a lot about convenience and having what we want when we want it.  Do you, my readers, agree with that statement?  Does anybody think that people work too much in the USA or too little in Spain?  Leave a comment below.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com