Spanish town introduces compulsory siesta law

A town in Valencia, Spain, is bringing in a law that ensures each citizen has the right to enjoy an afternoon nap. Between the hours of 2pm and 5pm the inhabitants of Ador will be catching their mandatory forty winks. The town’s summer siesta tradition is so deep-rooted the mayor has enshrined his citizen’s right to an afternoon snooze in law.

"Everything closes between 2pm and 5pm," a town hall spokesman said. "Bars, shops, the swimming pool, everything." It is well-known that taking an afternoon siesta is good for you and it was even scientifically proven in early 2015. But Ador could be the first town in Spain to actually make taking a siesta obligatory by law.



Mayor of Ador, Joan Faus Vitòria, has ordered that that town’s inhabitants stay quiet between 2pm and 5pm. The new rules also stipulate that children should remain indoors: "Children should stay indoors between 2pm and 5pm so that they do not go outside and play with balls and disturb older people," the town hall spokesman added.

There is a long tradition of taking an afternoon siesta in Ador, stemming from the town's agricultural history: "Many people here work in the countryside, so it’s very usual to take a long lunch break and have a siesta after eating." The people of Ador have proudly carried on the practice, cementing the summer tradition into a town custom that they hope to preserve for generations of future nappers.