1st of January - New year's day. National holiday.
5-6th of January - The procession of the 3 Holy Kings. In Spain this event is celebrated with big parades for children where various famous people get the "honour" to play one of the 3 kings. The morning of the 6th of January is when the children receive their gifts.
From the 23rd of February - Carnival. The yearly carnival is celebrated all over Spain with events like parades, mask and costume parties.
28th of February - Andalucia day. A state holiday throughout Andalusia.
1st of May - International Labour day. A national holiday in Spain.
3rd of May - Cruces de Mayo. This day is celebrated (principally in Granada) with competitions in decorating the most beautiful cross with flowers, but is not a holiday in Malaga.
18th of June - Corpus Christi. This is a religious event celebrated with processions in the centre of Malaga, but is not a holiday.
23rd of June - San Juan. San Juan is the longest day of the year and is celebrated with campfires and parties on the beach. (not a holiday)
16th of July - Virgen del Carmen. Virgen del Carmen is the patron of the sea and used to be a holiday in Malaga.
Middle of August - The traditional summer town festival "Feria de Agosto". La Feria is a weeklong town festival, which is celebrated during the daytime in the city centre and during night in an open square on the outskirts of Malaga. The main objective is to have fun and people dance, sing, eat, and drink in the many tents all over the Feria square. In la Feria you can also find horse parades, flamenco concerts and locals in traditional regional dresses.
15th of August - Asunción de la Virgen. This is a national holiday celebrating one of the patrons of Spain.
19th of August - Incorporation of Malaga in the kingdom of Catilla. This is a local holiday in the province of Malaga.
8th of September - Virgen de la Victoria. Local holiday in the capital of Malaga.
12th of October - Dia del Hispanidad. This is a national holiday with official parades celebrating "being Spanish".
1st of November - All Saints day. National holiday in Spain. Halloween is celebrated in some places in Malaga but it is not a Spanish tradition.
6th of December - Constitution day in Spain. This is a National holiday, but is only celebrated with official events.
8th of December - Immaculate Conceptión. This is a national holiday celebrating the patron of Spain, the Immaculate Conception.
25th of December - Christmas day. National holiday.
28th of December - Los Santos Inocentes. Apart from being the day when people make jokes upon each other (like 1st of April in many other countries), this is celebrated with Flamenco dancing and other festivities in Malaga.
The calendar of Malaga comes with a great amount of typical celebrations of one of the oldest cities in Europe, founded by the Phoenicians and that went on to become part of Rome. The decadence of the Roman empire caused that Malaga went on to become part of the Germanic villages, although it ended up under the Arab dominion inside the kingdom of al-andalus.
It was as from the Christian conquest, after a long siege by the Christian armies to the Muslims, when they began to build themselves a great amount of religious buildings with the aim of converting the population. These buildings came with religious celebrations and cattle fairs, being one of the most representative dates of this period on the 19th of August, the day in which Malaga joined the kingdom of Castilla.
During the original expansion of the Christianity, many dates of celebrations and pagan rites were taken as their own, some of these days include the 25th of December, in which they celebrate the solstice of winter and the 24th of June, the celebration of the solstice of summer and which is celebrated on the coast with special intensity and where the bonfires on the beach stand out. Other celebrations that managed to survive over the centuries are the 28th of December with the Holy Innocents day and Halloween celebrated on the night of the 31st to the 1st of October.