Customs and Festivals: Vocabulary and Cultural Proper Nouns
Build your Spanish vocabulary for customs, festivals and celebrations: the words for parties and traditions, the named Spanish festivals, and how to say which festival you like.
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Free, interactive practice on the words and structures the examiner keeps asking for.
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Festivals in Spanish
Spain and the Spanish-speaking world are famous for their festivals. To talk about them you need words for parties and traditions, and the names of the festivals themselves. This module builds your Spanish vocabulary for customs and celebrations. Each Spanish word is shown with its English meaning, so you can learn to recognise it.
Words for celebrating
Start with four useful words. Each Spanish word is shown with its English meaning.
Saying what you like
You can say what you think of a festival with a full sentence, not just single words.
Say why with porque
To reach a higher level, add a reason. You can say Me gusta el Día de Reyes, porque es divertido, which means I like Epiphany because it is fun. Using me gusta with a festival and es with an adjective lets you build a full sentence instead of a single word.
Match the festival
- Navidad
- Semana Santa
- Día de Muertos
- Nochevieja
- Christmas
- Holy Week
- the Day of the Dead
- New Year Eve
Which word is fireworks?
Which Spanish words mean fireworks?
- fuegos artificiales
- desfile
- boda
- regalo
Match the custom
- desfile
- boda
- cumpleaños
- tradición
- a parade
- a wedding
- a birthday
- a tradition
Spot the festivals
Which TWO Spanish words are names of festivals?
- Navidad
- Semana Santa
- regalo
- desfile
Order the festivals
Put these Spanish festivals in the order they happen through the year, earliest first.
- Día de Reyes, in early January
- Semana Santa, in spring
- Día de Muertos, in early November
- Navidad, in late December
Which Spanish word fits?
Christmas in Spanish is _____. Holy Week is _____. The bright lights in the sky at a fiesta are _____. A wedding is a _____. To say I like the parade you say Me gusta el _____.
Find the festivals
Tap the TWO Spanish words that are names of festivals.
- Navidad
- Semana Santa
- regalo
- boda
Finish the sentence
Which Spanish sentence means "I like Christmas"?
- Me gusta la Navidad.
- No me gusta la Navidad.
- La Navidad es divertida.
- Tengo la Navidad.
Choose the Spanish word
For each English meaning, choose the correct Spanish word.
- You want the words for fireworks. Which answer?
- You want the word for a parade. Which word?
- You want the festival name for the Day of the Dead. Which word?
Write about a festival
Write three or four sentences in Spanish about a festival you know. Name the festival, say whether you like it using Me gusta, and describe it using es and an adjective.
- Name a festival in Spanish
- Say whether you like it, using Me gusta
- Describe it using es and an adjective