Spain's Official State Gazette, the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), has confirmed that ten territories will move the December 6 Constitution Day public holiday to Monday, December 7, creating a four-day weekend for workers and schools.
Because Spanish Constitution Day falls on a Sunday in 2026, national regulations published in the BOE allow regional authorities to transfer the rest day to the following Monday. Ten territories have opted to make the change, combining the transferred Monday holiday with the nationwide public holiday on Tuesday, December 8.
Residents in those territories will have four consecutive days off from Saturday, December 5 through Tuesday, December 8 inclusive. The extended break applies to both workplaces and schools, offering workers and students a chance to rest and disconnect from accumulated year-end fatigue ahead of the Christmas holidays.
Regions observing the Monday December 7 holiday
The ten territories that will observe the public holiday on Monday, December 7 are the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and Leon, Extremadura, the Community of Madrid, Murcia and La Rioja, along with the autonomous city of Melilla.
Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities on the north coast of Africa, Ceuta and Melilla. While the central government publishes the framework for Spain's annual working calendar in the BOE, regional governments have the legal authority to substitute or transfer national public holidays that fall on a Sunday.
In Spain, a multi-day break created when public holidays fall next to a weekend is known as a puente, or bridge holiday. The early December break is traditionally one of the most anticipated periods on the Spanish calendar because two national holidays fall two days apart.
Origins of the two December public holidays
December 6 marks Spanish Constitution Day, known in Spain as the Día de la Constitución Española. In 2026, the holiday celebrates the 48th anniversary of the December 6, 1978 referendum in which Spanish voters approved the country's democratic constitution following the end of the Franco dictatorship.
Tuesday, December 8 is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, or Día de la Inmaculada Concepción, which is observed as a national public holiday across all of Spain. As reported by María Bandera and the COPE editorial team in an article prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools, the December 8 holiday is a date of special significance for the Catholic Church, which the report describes as celebrating the moment the Angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would be the mother of the Saviour.
Public holidays remaining in Spain in 2026
The December schedule is not the first time in 2026 that Spanish regions have shifted a Sunday holiday to the start of the working week. All Saints' Day on November 1 also fell on a Sunday in 2026, and nine autonomous communities transferred the observance to Monday, November 2, giving residents in those regions a three-day weekend.
Once the four-day break between December 5 and December 8 concludes, workers across Spain will have only one national public holiday left before the end of 2026. Christmas Day on December 25 falls on a Friday in 2026, giving all Spaniards another three-day weekend to close out the year.
