In Spain, the equivalent of All Fools' Day is “Día de los Santos Inocentes”, which takes place in the middle of the long Christmas season (Spanish Navidad runs all the way through to 6 January, the Epiphany). On 28 December it’s your turn to play your favourite jokes on friends and family!

Possibly you thought the Christmas season was over on New Year’s Eve, but in Spain this is just the mid-point of all the celebrating. In this country, the tradition is to have a rather late dinner with your family – just one more rich, elaborate dinner, of course, complete with all the pastries, dried fruits and nuts and mountains of turrón that finish every meal at this time of year.

December 28th, right smack in the middle of the Spanish Christmas season, we have the annual Verdiales competitions taking place right outside Málaga City. The festival will bring together competing “pandas” as they are known. These are groups that practice one of three different forms of Verdiales singing accompanied by their traditional folk dance and unforgettable costumes.