FERIA DE ABRIL

¡Olé! Fería is the biggest festival in Sevilla (and Sevilla hosts the biggest Fería in Spain) in the springtime. It’s almost impossible to explain considering the U.S. has NOTHING like this, but I spent one night and one half day there, so I’ll give it a shot.

Most of us foreigners looked at Feria as a second Spring Break, considering we did not have class for an entire week due to this festival. Every April, Sevillians gather with family and friends in what looks like state fair grounds to celebrate. The question remains, what are they really celebrating?

Feria is basically a weeklong party for the locals and their family and friends. Most families have “casetas” which are private tents that have live music, tables, chairs, bars and lots of proud and tipsy Sevillians who dance flamenco 24/7. I am fortunate enough to have experienced this “VIP” party, because my family is a member of a caseta. The casetas are decorated by a committee each year and entered into a contest for various categories. There are more than 1200 casetas! Some are huge and some are small, but all are similar in the sense that they are filled with celebration.

The celebration starts Monday night at midnight, when they turn on the lights to the main entrance. The streets were packed with locals of all ages dressed up for the big moment; the beginning of Fería. It felt a little like New Year’s when the clock struck midnight.

 Main Entrance Gate. Lights turned on at midnight symbolizing the start of Fería.

 Casetas all in a row

The following days, everybody gets all dressed up in flamenco dresses of all styles and colors and essentially parties all day and night for seven straight days. It is insane and I don’t know how they do it, they get roughly three to four hours of sleep every night! The typical drink of Feria is “Ribujena” which is similar to Sangria, but with white wine. Author’s Note: Very strong.

 Sevillian chicas all dressed up in Flamenco dresses

 Flamenco dancing inside the Caseta

 Cute little Spanish girls in their Flamenco attire

I only got to go on Tuesday for the daytime experience because we had to take a six-hour bus ride to Madrid to catch our Wednesday morning flight to Paris, but I definitely enjoyed the time I had there. I borrowed a flamenco dress from my Madre’s friend, and blended right in with all of the Sevillians, (más o menos). 

 Mis Padres

Fería was definitely unlike anything I’ve ever seen and it still amazes me how people can party for so many consecutive days. Even though we had to leave early, our party was just beginning as we headed to Paris and Switzerland for the rest of our second Spring Break! See next post J