The festival of Seville

It’s the second big week of Seville, but here second doesn’t mean less important, it’s just due to its celebration is after Holy Week, specifically 1 or 2 weeks later.

Now is when, while the centre is quite, the fairground -called the El Real de la Feria– comes alive and fills with the best atmosphere, light and colour of the year.

Fairs like these are found in almost all of the towns and cities but Seville’s is the most famous and biggest in Spain. It’s the big spring festival, where the women dress in their flamenco dresses and the men go in jackets, horses go past and there is normally dancing, drinking, eating and enjoyment.

History

Its origins date back to the 19^th century as an animal market fair, started incidentally by a Basque and a Catalan businessmen. During the buying and selling negotiations, singing nights and dances were held and taverns were set up. Nevertheless, over time, the commercial side was lost until it turned into an organised festival.

Site

The fairground is located in the neighbourhood of Los Remedios, a little further out from the centre of the city. The entrance, called Portada, is what attracts the most attention of the site, changing each year to represent a monument or aspect of Seville. Once through the entrance, the most characteristic things are the casetas or cabins.

Casetas (cabins)

These are places where the life of the Feria is carried out. Once inside, you drink, dance and eat.  Although there is also dancing outside of them too. The cabins aren’t permanent structures, but they are put up and taken down each year. However, it has to be taken into account that they are private, however there are public ones and one that is specifically for tourists. Everyone has a cabin during the fair then? Clearly no, but it’s certain that you know someone who does, or you know someone who knows someone who knows someone that has a cabin. This is how Sevillian society works during the week!

‘Sevillanas’

The fairground ends up being flooded by horse-drawn carriages (and of the undeniable smell of manure, although the city street cleaners go by constantly) and the streets are adorned with paper lanterns. But, above all, what’s heard all over the site is Sevillianas. This is a genre of music born in Seville and is now considered to be a distant type of flamenco. The dance isn’t easy, but to only see the dancing partners you arrive to the conclusion that it is one of the most beautiful and sensual regional dances that exist.

Flamenco dresses

Of course, what gives the fair its unmistakable flair are the flamenco dresses, also called gitana dresses. Each one is different. With diverse colours, polka dots and patterns. It has the honour of being the only regional outfit that has different designs and that follows the trends. But the dress isn’t worn every day, to be precise, there’s one day when it isn’t worn and that is the Saturday of Pescaito -fried fish-, meaning, the night when the fair opens. On Saturday at midnight -well, now Sunday-, is when the week of the fair starts, by the turning on of the lights or ‘alumbrao’. That night the people get together in their cabins to have dinner, elegantly dressed.

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Food and Drink

How and what do you eat at the fair? So, every cabin has its own list of tapas and portions but the most common is simple Spanish food, like Spanish omelette, jamon and hot pork sirloin sandwiches. Logically the prices are higher than those of the bars. The fair isn’t a cheap festival.  And what do you drink? The excellent drink of the fair is ‘rebujito’, a mix of mazanilla or fino sherry with seven up or sprite.

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Fair rides

However, the fair doesn’t end there. Apart from the cabins, there is the famous Infierno Street -Street of Hell- the enormous area full of fair rides, or as the Sevillians call them cacharitos. The noise of the rides, the games and the tombolas surround the site and the lights confuse its visitors while there is the distinctive smell of churros with chocolate and waffles from the stands that are located there. It’s not necessary to say that this is the favourite zone for kids. It’s also an experience that you shouldn’t miss out on.

Visiting Seville during the April Fair

If you like a festival then this is, without doubt, your time to come to visit the city. You can do tourism in peace as the majority of the inhabitants can be found in the fair, therefore the city is almost at the disposal of its visitors, nothing at all like Holy Week. On the other hand, you can also visit the fair and you’ll see how the Sevillians live and of course, enjoy it until you get tired. 

Images source: 8 – 19 (section 4)