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Fernando Rey festivities are in honor of the 16th-century Spanish monarch, turned into local patron saint.

Dominicans welcome the New Year with an exuberant open-air concert on the riverside Avenida Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó, Santo Domingo, where some of the country’s top bands perform. Other towns and villages hold smaller-scale but equally loud outdoor fiestas.

The northern town noisily celebrates San Felipe, the votive day of its local saint.

The grandiose Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración is the scene of a huge party to commemorate the country’s “second independence” from Spain in 1865 after a guerrilla struggle that started in Santiago (see Santiago). Another celebration, with plenty of music, takes place in Santo Domingo’s beautiful Plaza España.

Santa Bárbara’s day is the pretext for processions and partying in Santa Bárbara de Samaná (see Samaná). The local popular music bamboula is played.

San Juan Bautista, or Saint John the Baptist, is revered in this folkloric religious festival.

The city celebrates its patron saint, San Pedro Apóstol, with lots of music and dance.

Santiago Apostól, or Saint James the scourge of the Moors, is the object of great veneration.

The big present-giving day is a crucial part of the extended Christmas–New Year holiday season. In San Pedro de Macorís, some of the town’s millionaire baseball stars traditionally hand out bats, balls, and gloves to kids.

The annual pilgrimage to the modern concrete basilica of Higüey brings thousands of Dominicans together in prayer to the nation’s patron saint, followed by a long party. Services and vigils are held across the country, but the Higüey gathering is the most impressive expression of an African-influenced Catholic faith.