I can't think of an equivalent. I hope these articles will help someone else to come up with it. Where I come from (Scotland), the big celebration is at Hogmanay. Not what you are looking for, perhaps, but it is mad all right!

HTH


Sheila



http://www.xtec.es/~ealtimir/solhivca.htm
http://www.teranyina.net/nadal.ct/tradicions.html

http://www.temakel.com/fiestalocosemedia.htm

http://www.whatsonwhen.com/partners/tiscali/viewevent.asp?id...
The Fiesta of the Mad (La fiesta de Los Locos)
28 December 2001 (Every year)
If you consider yourself a bit of a nutter, then head for Fuente Carreteros at the end of December, when all things crazy are celebrated.
For the days leading up to the New Year the town puts on a vibrant fiesta packed with dancing and street entertainment. The dances are not the most authentically Spanish, if that is what you are expecting. They originate from Tirole immigrants that settled in Cordova in the mid-1700s.

http://www.spainalive.com/spain/customs/articulos/articulo6/...
December 28

El Baile de los Locos (Fuente Tojarnear, Córdoba)
This event started in the 18th century when immigrants from Austria, Germany and other European countries moved into the country. A mad master of ceremonies directs the dancers to parade through the streets and dance in people's homes

http://www.gva.es/jalance/Fiestas.htm

l 28 de Diciembre, día de los Santos Inocentes, (día de los Locos), se celebra en Jalance la "fiesta de los Locos", fiesta de la que tenemos constancia escrita de su existencia a principios del siglo XVII, a través de los libros parroquiales, aunque se supone anterior debido al auge y la importancia que entonces tenía.

La gente solía hacer sus donaciones en especie, esto es, con lo que tenían en casa: pollos, maíz, tocino, huevos, etc. A pesar del carácter "piadoso" de la recaudación, la fiesta de los locos tenía y tiene gran simbología pagana: se visten con ropas estrafalarias, llevan porras de madera con formas fálicas, etc. Se trata de romper, por un día, con el poder establecido: piden la vara de mando al alcalde y cuelgan al cura. Es, en definitiva, una exaltación de los sentidos: el sexo, el alcohol y la música, forman parte de la fiesta, pero de forma inocente y graciosa cuya primera finalidad es divertirse y divertir a los demás. Actualmente la fiesta de los locos la celebran los quintos de Jalance cada 28 de diciembre, junto con algunos "locos profesionales" que contratan los quintos cada año para ese día, así como una charanga local que los acompaña y anima con su música.

Al comenzar el día, se nombra un Alcalde entre los Locos, que recibe de manos del alcalde de Jalance, la "vara de mando" del pueblo, que será gobernado por ellos durante 24 horas. Los locos salen a las calles, acompañados de los músicos, ataviados con estrafalarias vestimentas y con la cara "pintarrajeada", llamando a las puertas de las casas para pedir aportaciones para la fiesta, trepando por los balcones para sacar a bailar al fresco a las mujeres y parando a los coches para hacer bajar a los ocupantes y hacerles bailar con cualquiera que pasa en ese momento cerca.



28 de desembre, Els Sants Innocents  

Aquesta festa, segons diuen alguns experts, és d'origen pagà; sembla que ser que avui començava unes festes que duraven molts dies i acabaven amb el Carnestoltes.  

"De Nadal a Carnestoltes, set setmanes desimboltes" 

Aquestes festes eren conegudes com la Festa dels Bojos, i es celebrava a per tot Europa. Cal tenir en compte que durant l'hivern la terra era com adormida, la gent es passava moltes hores tancada a casa i havien de fer alguna cosa per entretenir-se, passar una bona estona, fer passar el fred, relacionar-se amb tothom... tot això explicaria el perquè d'unes festes d'aquestes característiques.  
Actualment s'ha perdut aquest caire tant disbauxat i la festa s'ha centrat en la mainada i les diferents entremaliadures que es fan en aquesta data. Són bromes innocents i divertides, es plantes llufes o ninots de diaris retallats i la premsa aprofita per donar algunes notícies falses i disbauxades que posen a prova l'enginy i la imaginació.  

  

31 de desembre, l'home dels nassos: 

Podria ser una altra resta de la Festa dels Bojos. Es sol explicar a la mainada que en aquest dia surt l'Home dels Nassos, una persona que té tants nassos com dies queden per acabar l'any. Els nens i nenes, que de vegades els costa entendre el joc de paraules i la situació d'espai – temps, fa que imaginin un personatge estrafolari, potser curiós i un xic terrorífic que només poden veure a primera hora del matí i en aquest únic dia de l'any.  
Avui es fan els preparatius per rebre l'any nou. Es solen preparar sopars molt sofisticats i elaborats, s'organitzen balls de festa, es prepara el raïm i es posen els rellotges a l'hora en punt...  
Menjar raïm per Cap d'Any porta diners per tot l'any  
Qui el desembre acabarà, l'any nou veurà 
En algunes contrades consideren aquesta nit com la festa major de les bruixes:  
Per Sant Silvestre, entren les bruixes per la finestra  

I think the only thing I can compare the festa dels bojos to is April Fools' Day. That's more or less the equivalent of Holy Innocents' day in Spain.

Hope these references help you.

Sheila


http://www.geocities.com/thalaric1/navidad/traditions.html

* In Fuentecarreteros, Cordoba, they celebrate El Baile de los Locos - the Dance of the Madmen. Master of ceremonies is El Loco Mayor, the chief madman. He directs a mass of apparently deranged dancers who take it upon themselves to dance through people's houses and generally test the sense of humour of the villagers.

Los Inocentes (28th December)
Innocents' Day (Feast of the Holy Innocents)

The 28th of December is Innocents' Day, similar in spirit to the American April Fools' Day. On this day, people play inocentadas (pranks or practical jokes) on friends and relatives: people make jokes hoping that the victim believes the false thing. When people get caught, the joker says: "Inocente, inocente!" ("Innocent, innocent!"). The newspapers and other media are in on the joke as well, reporting false news for the people to figure out. In some parts of Spain young boys of a town or village light bonfires and one of them acts as the mayor who orders townspeople to perform civic chores such as sweeping the streets. Refusal to comply results in fines which are used to pay for the celebration.

For sheer exuberance and ribald entertainment, the Fiesta de Verdiales in Malaga outdoes them all. It begins around midday at a nondescript wayside inn on the old mountain road between Malaga and Antequera. Thousands of people converge on La Venta del Tunel to watch country musicians in 20 groups locked in a contest to see who can play the longest and loudest.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/wais/religion_innocentsday.htm...
More on Holy Innocents' Day
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     Here is a comment on my memo on Holy Innocents' Day from Joan Ubeda, a visiting Knight Fellow from Barcelona, where he is Professor of Communications:
     "28th of december is the day of the Santos Inocentes, an equivalent to April's fool day. In Spain, people make light jokes to each other. The media take part too: I recall my station once announced that someone has invented a TV set that worked on gas (butane), not on AC --flocks of people popped up to see the invention."
     This implies that Catalonia is more Spanish than French, since the French "celebrate" April Fool's Day (poisson d'avril). The transfer of folk customs is significant. In Mexico, as noted, people follow the old Spanish habit of gobbling twelve grapes at Midnight December 31 while the clock strikes twelve. I don't know the origins of that custom. Is it observed in other Latin American countries and in Catalonia?
     As an admirer of Blasco Ibanez, I think that the cult of bullfighting indicates the degree of barbarity, and I would add prize-fighting. By this criterion, the Catalans are the most civilized of the Hispanic peoples. The Catalan government has issued a decree forbidding children under fourteen to attend bullfights or prize fights. TV showed a loutish bullfight fan denouncing the decree.
     The Holy Innocents Day jokes Joan Ubeda mentions are harmless, although they do not help the innocent. Strangely, the worst offenses were committed in Strasbourg, where the pranks culminated on New Year's Eve with the burning of forty automobiles.
     Generally, in the "Christian" world, the New Year was greeted, as on Madrid's Plaza del Sol, with mobs drinking and laughing idiotically. God bless the Pope, who was giving a sensitive homily in St.Peter's Square on the plight of mankind. President Jacques Chirac delivered a thoughtful TV message, as did some other world leaders. The Spanish royal family and government leaders, on a skiing vacation in the Pyrenees, toasted the New Year quietly. As usual, I set the world a good example: I was fast asleep.

http://justus.anglican.org/resources/pc/neale/liturgiology/c...


The election of a Boy Bishop, which took place usually on S. John’s Day, at night, sometimes gave rise to scenes of a very unedifying character, both on Holy Innocents’ and on New Year’s Day. The latter was, in French, La Fête des Soudiacres, or more frequently, The Feast of Fools. The former name was intended as a kind of pun between sou-diacres, subdeacons and souls diacres, drunken deacons; and both in the East and the West the custom gave the Bishops a good deal of trouble in putting it down, or at least restraining it within due bounds. On the contrary, in the south-east of Europe, the Missa de idolis prohibendis stamped quite a different character on the day, by announcing the overthrow of the profane joy which formerly welcomed in the New Year by an Idol Feast.


Sexagesima had also only its Latin title. In the East it is the Sunday of Apocreos; the weeks, at that time of the year, preceding, and not following their Sunday. The ensuing week is, in the East, Cheese Week; in Russia, Butter Week; becaufe, till the close of the following Sunday, cheese and butter are allowed. The Friday of Sexagesima was, in the north of Germany, the Kind-fest, or Kind-tag, being, by a peculiar rite, the Festival of the Invention of the Child in the Temple. In the Tyrol, the Thursday before Quinquagesima was called Mad Thursday, because kept as an especial Carnival; also, Rinne Donnerslag, from an uncertain reason.