Huesca celebrates its San Lorenzo fiestas between the 9th and 15th August. During that week our city changes completely.

The public crammed into Plaza de la Catedral at 12 o'clock on the 9th August.

The people from Huesca, dressed in white and the green of flowering basil, go out onto the streets to live the fiesta in all its intensity. The launch of the rocket from the Town Hall at 12 o'clock on the 9th, signals the start of the fiestas. Thousands of young people that crowd into the plaza de la Catedral anxiously await the rocket's explosion. Afterwards, the five Peñas Recreativas go round the town in a festive parade together with the mairalesas, who are representatives of the neighbourhoods and peñas.

The 10th August is the big day, where all the Danzantes dance their beautiful old sword, stick and ribbon dances, first of all before San Lorenzo's basilica and later in a procession through the town's streets accompanying the saint's stand, whose reliquary bust dates back to the end of the 16th century.

On the last day of the fiestas, the 15th, the saint is offered flowers and fruits, in an eye-catching exhibition of folkclore and traditional costumes from Alto Aragon. And at night the Peñas bid farewell to their patron saint before the basilica's doors, by singing a common song before the impending end of the fiestas.

The San Lorenzo Bullfighting Festival is celebrated during these fiestas. Every bullfighting afternoon, the stalls where the Peñas meet with their charangas (small five string guitar), turn into a boisterous show, which is repeated every day during the morning release of the heifers.

The streets become meeting places for the people from Huesca and their visitors during the night and day. Concerts, open-air dances, street entertainment, children's shows, fairground attractions, folk performances... liven up the different stages, and later it is in the bars and the Peñas' premises that the fiesta continues until the sun comes up.
In 2005 the San Lorenzo fiestas were declared of National Tourist Interest, due to the cultural value and popular traditions they amass.