🎄 Holidays - Fiestas

Aa ⏱ ≈ 15 minutes

Beginner Spanish · Holidays and family traditions

Holidays in Spanish

Holiday Spanish becomes useful when you can talk about your plans, say who you spend the holidays with, describe family traditions, exchange greetings, and ask how other people celebrate.

Your next small win: talk about holiday plans, use celebrar and pasar las fiestas, describe a simple family tradition, and use common holiday greetings.

Start with the celebration

Core Holiday Vocabulary

These words cover common celebrations, family activities, meals, and gifts.

día festivo
Public holiday
celebración
Celebration
familia
Family
regalo
Gift
cena
Dinner
tradición
Tradition

Name four holiday words

Say “public holiday, celebration, gift, and tradition” in Spanish.

Holiday names and activities
Navidad
Christmas
Año Nuevo
New Year
Pascua
Easter
reunión familiar
Family gathering
comida especial
Special meal
intercambiar regalos
To exchange gifts

Talk about your plans

Celebrar and Pasar las Fiestas

Use celebrar to say what you celebrate. Use pasar las fiestas to talk about where or with whom you spend the holiday period.

Celebramos la Navidad con la familia.
We celebrate Christmas with the family.
¿Cómo celebran el Año Nuevo?
How do you celebrate New Year?
Voy a pasar las fiestas con mi familia.
I'm going to spend the holidays with my family.
¿Vas a pasar las fiestas con tu familia?
Are you going to spend the holidays with your family?
Voy a visitar a mi familia.
I'm going to visit my family.
Vamos a preparar una cena especial.
We're going to prepare a special dinner.

Useful pattern: ir a + infinitive is practical for holiday plans: voy a visitar, vamos a preparar, vamos a celebrar.

Holiday plans

A
¿Qué vas a hacer durante las fiestas?
What are you going to do during the holidays?
B
Voy a visitar a mi familia.
I'm going to visit my family.
A
¿Van a celebrar juntos?
Are you going to celebrate together?
B
Sí, vamos a preparar una cena especial.
Yes, we're going to prepare a special dinner.

Talk about your holiday plans

Say that you are going to spend the holidays with your family and prepare a special dinner.

Describe what your family does

Family Traditions

Simple present-tense phrases work well for traditions because they describe things people do regularly.

¿Tienen alguna tradición especial?
Do you have any special traditions?
Cenamos juntos todos los años.
We have dinner together every year.
¿También intercambian regalos?
Do you also exchange gifts?
Intercambiamos regalos después de la cena.
We exchange gifts after dinner.
Pasamos tiempo con la familia.
We spend time with the family.
Decoramos la casa.
We decorate the house.

Talking about traditions

A
¿Tienen alguna tradición especial?
Do you have any special traditions?
B
Sí, cenamos juntos todos los años.
Yes, we have dinner together every year.
A
¿También intercambian regalos?
Do you also exchange gifts?
B
Sí, después de la cena.
Yes, after dinner.

Describe a family tradition

Say that your family eats dinner together every year and exchanges gifts after dinner.

More holiday activities
dar un regalo
To give a gift
preparar la cena
To prepare dinner
ver los fuegos artificiales
To watch the fireworks
pasar tiempo juntos
To spend time together

Use a simple holiday greeting

Greetings and Public Holidays

A few short expressions cover common seasonal greetings and questions about official holidays.

¡Feliz Navidad!
Merry Christmas!
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
Happy New Year!
¡Felices fiestas!
Happy holidays!
¿Qué celebras?
What are you celebrating?
¿Mañana es día festivo?
Is tomorrow a public holiday?
Mañana es día festivo.
Tomorrow is a public holiday.

Useful distinction: día festivo refers to a public or official holiday. fiesta can mean a party or celebration, while las fiestas can refer to the holiday season in context.

Use holiday greetings

Say “Merry Christmas,” “Happy New Year,” and “Happy holidays” in Spanish.

Lesson boundary: this lesson focuses on holiday plans, family traditions, and greetings. Parades, costumes, and broader cultural festival experiences belong in the Cultural Festivals lesson.

Your turn · 8 quick questions

Practice: Holidays in Spanish

Choose the answer that best fits each situation. Focus on holiday plans, family traditions, gifts, greetings, and public holidays.

Audio uses your device's Spanish text-to-speech voice. Listen to each phrase, then practice talking about holiday plans, family traditions, gifts, meals, and greetings.