30 May | The Canary Islands’ Day, Día de Canarias, Public Holiday in the archipelago

‘Diá de Canarias‘

Canary Islands Day, 30 MAY is an annual bank holiday throughout the archipelago. It’s good to remember that government offices, banks, and many local shops etc. will be closed.

On the 30th of May 1983 The Canary Islands officially became an Autonomous National Region of Spain when The Government of The Canary Islands Parliament sat for the first time.  The day has been marked ever since by all municipal town halls, on all 8 islands, in each of the two provinces that make up the archipelago, as the official day for celebration of all things Canarian.

You can expect nearly every town or village to have some sort of public event happening on Thursday, some including Wednesday and previous weekend, with locals dressed in traditional post-conquest clothing and performing folk dances as well as tastings of local produce among other attractions. You might have already seen the shopping centres and shops having loads of Canarian products to sell. 

Of course, as tourism has long been the main focus of the economy here you’ll also find representations of traditional foodstuffs like gofio, potatoes, cheeses, mangoes, avocados, ropa vieja, almonds, wines, rum, honey rum, mojos rojo and verde and many items besides on display in hotels and tourist information centres.