HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS IN BOLIVIA
Many exciting holidays, festivals, and other events take place in Bolivia each year. Bolivians, and especially ‘cruceños’, are adept at finding a reason for any type of celebration. You don’t have to stay long in Santa Cruz to find entertainment. In addition to many national public holidays most of which are celebrated with great pomp and circumstance, the Department of Santa Cruz has its own local or regional festivities. Public holidays are days the local or national government recognizes and usually there is no work on these days. And finally, we have many more days and events that are unique to Bolivia, like National Protected Areas Day. You'll find many of these listed on our Events page and our Spanish Events page. 
Bolivians, and especially cruceños, love a good party. Each year many additional
special occasions
are also celebrated in grandiose manner. Special occasions are holidays we celebrate that may or may not be recognized by the government. In most cases people continue to work on these days. Most of the special occasions celebrated in Bolivia are popular in other countries too. Many of these are well-known, such as Mother’s and Father’s Day, but in Bolivia even pets have their own special days. In fact, in Santa Cruz you’re even sure to find events being held for nearly every single one of the
United Nations
International Holidays. You could build up quite a social calendar. United Nations holidays are special days set aside by the UN to remember or create awareness for certain issues like Earth Day, International Volunteers Day, AIDS awareness day, etc. In Bolivia many of these holidays are celebrated but you don't get a day off from work.As Church and State are not fully separate in Bolivia, numerous events are of religious, (primarily Catholic) origin; however, many are traditional to the various indigenous cultures of the area. Other celebrations that take place in Santa Cruz did not originate here, and may be held in several towns throughout the country on the same day. This is because the populations that celebrate them have settled in various different areas and take their traditions with them. For the same reason, sometimes festivals are celebrated more than once in a year in different cities, like Alasitas for example, which takes place in January in La Paz, but in September in Santa Cruz. Festivals are local or national holidays that usually center around cultural or religious observances or celebrations. They may be celebrated by all Bolivians or only some, depending on the region. In most - but not all - cases people do get days off from work for festivals such as Carnaval, San Juan, and others. In addition, people often travel from Santa Cruz to other towns and other parts of the country to partake in festivities and you may want to do the same. Many of the festivals I’ve listed are wonderful cultural events and attract a great many tourists. I’ll try to give you a brief description of each and some of the more interesting traditions and customs that are practiced. There is literally never a dull moment in Santa Cruz. 
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