• Festivals and holidays in Spain and Mexico often include bright colors, music and dancing.spanish dancer image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com
  
  With traditions steeped in Catholic religion, both Spanish and Mexican cultures observe feast days for the saints and celebrate holidays and festivals such as Christmas and Carnival in high style. National holidays fall in every month of the year, and in both countries, holidays are often heralded with parades and all-day festivities.
  
  

Feast of the Assumption

• The Feast of the Assumption, celebrated across Spain on August 15, is one of the country's most significant religious holidays. It celebrates the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Catholic tradition. Better known as the Virgen de la Paloma, the festivities for this holiday begin on the 11th and culminate in a public holiday on the 15th with the procession of a picture of the Virgin through the streets. In Toledo, crowds also gather on this day to drink the supposed "miracle waters" of the Toledo Cathedral's well.
  
  

Spain's National Day

• Spain's National Day, or Dia de la Hispanidad, celebrates the date Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas, on October 12. There is an annual parade held in Madrid and many smaller celebrations throughout the rest of the country. The parade in Madrid includes a military procession in the Plaza de Colon and an air display of low-flying planes that soar across the city, leaving trails of red and yellow stripes to mimic the colors of the Spanish flag.
  
  

Cinco de Mayo

• Cinco de Mayo, every May 5th, is a Mexican holiday commemorating their victory over the French Army in 1862. It is primarily celebrated in Puebla, Mexico. Don't confuse it with Mexico's independence day, which is on September 16. Festivities during Cinco de Mayo is especially favored along the U.S.-Mexico border and among immigrants living in the United States. Certain Mexican traditions are celebrated during this holiday and festivities may include traditional food, music and dancing.
  
  

Days of the Dead

• The Days of the Dead, or Dias de los Muertos, is a famous Mexican celebration held on November 1 and 2, the days after Halloween. This holiday is a way for the people of Mexico to honor the dead. Townspeople dress in costume as ghouls, ghosts, and skeletons and parade through town, carrying an open coffin. One person pretends to be the corpse, and smiles throughout the procession. Vendors toss oranges into the casket as it goes by.
  
  Families in every home arrange ofrendas, or altars, with gifts of fruit, bread, and candy to honor their dead. In the afternoon, they light special candles that will burn all night in memoriam. On the second day of the celebration, families visit the cemetery to clean and care for the graves of their departed family members; they leave further offerings of flowers, food and candles on the graves.
  
  The Days of the Dead are also notable for the special foods and candies available during this time, including chocolate skulls and skeletons, and marzipan coffins. Bakers make special loves of bread called pan de muertos, decorated with "bones" on top.