A Spanish Feria Awaits You in Southern Spain!
It’s spring in southern Spain and this can only mean one thing: feria!! What does this mean to you? Well, one may think of an exposition or even a state fairâÂ?¦. Similar but not totally accurate. Think color. Think loud music. Dream of walking and being in among families and teens all night dancing, drinking and eating. Just remember: ferias in Andalucia last all night!
Ferias originally started decades ago as a trade fair where farmers could meet to buy and sell their livestock. This also included having the family together so lunch and dinner could be enjoyed. It was a time when everyone could have a short vacation – so to speak – from the hard life of being a farmer. With the passage of time however, it developed into now what is considered a feria where in some small communities livestock is still exhibited but the main idea being a festival celebrating spring and enjoying a lot of get-togethers with friends and family.
The celebration of the feria is truly an andalucian event; though other regions of Spain hold ferias also, those are mainly trade fairs or conventions, while in Andalucia the feria is a celebration of life, loud music and flamenco. Almost every city and town holds their own little feria and while most will last a few days, starting on a Wednesday night at midnight with the traditional lighting turned on by the local mayor, lasting till midnight Sunday. Larger cities will hold massive ferias, the largest and most famous being that of Sevilla, which always is the first to celebrate its feria during the month of April and lasts for a week.
If you’re a visiting participant of these ferias, then it’s suggested you take the bus or if you’re located in a community celebrating their feria, just walk! Due to the massive chaos a feria causes, most streets closest to the feria grounds will be detoured or closed. Some streets will change direction and traffic police will be out in force during the annual event. Take for example historic Sevilla: Sevilla is a huge city dating back many centuries and year-round has thousands of international tourists. Right now the city’s downtown area is being torn up to install their metro system. When you take that into consideration, along with closed streets for construction, detours for the feria, loads of traffic congestion, you’ll understand why it’s better to walk if you’re located close enough or better, take a bus. Sevilla treats everyone correct by having extended hours on their municipal buses running from the outlying neighborhoods to downtown and the feria. The bus price is downright low to encourage people to use this fast means of transport during a busy event, plus many of the streets will have bus-only lanes, or buses transit through streets already closed to most traffic except taxis, buses, and emergency vehicles.
So, you’ve got your flight reservation to Sevilla or some other major airport in Andalucia and you’re excited about finally getting to EspaÃ?±a and seeing the historic wonders and possibly getting to see a feria; what can you expect and how can you prepare?
First off, most major events in any Spanish city and especially in Andalucia create havoc throughout the year. Again using Sevilla as an example, the major events that will have hotels reserve rooms sometimes up to a year in advance are Semana Santa (Holy Week in March) the feria (April), and other cultural events of international interest. So if you’re thinking of booking now, you’ll probably be renting a small apartment in the city’s outskirts! Plan ahead and make sure your reservations are done as early as possible!
How should you dress? During a state fair, most people will dress in shorts; the feria is a very conservative event; shorts, though frown upon years ago, are now a familiar sight as the locals are now used to seeing people dressed this way. Still, to make the best impression you should be very conservative in your dress with long-sleeve shirts. For the women, something less than what would be worn for a church event would not be out of hand. You’ll see many during the feria who are in ties and jackets (businessmen) and women appearing as if they just left a church mass. As long as you’re comfortable, it should be good! Most ferias will be blessed with a hot sun and cool nights, though it will normally rain at least one day during the Sevilla feria, and also levante (hot winds) will blow.
Many feria visitors normally go during the day to see the many horses brightly dressed and often pulling beautifully preserved horse carriages, some decades of years oldâÂ?¦ but when I see these visitors, they seem to always display the blank face year after year, which tell me they are at a loss to what the Spanish see so much in the feria. This is because the dancing doesn’t start till the night, and at 9pm when even most northern Europeans are asleep in their beds, the Spaniards haven’t even started to get ready to go out to spend their full-night at the feria! Yes, if you’re at the feria earlier than 4-5pm, then you’re there waaaay too early!!
The horses and carriages are excluded from the feria during the early evenings, sometimes as early as 6-7pm, to make way for the masses of people who will soon flock to the feria. During the day, the spanish come to the feria to have lunch and meet with co-workers, friends and family. Casetas are the big temporary buildings erected inside the feria housing the various clubs, groups and businesses who pay a hefty price to have their caseta. There are some buildings that are permanent but most are temporary with payment being made to the city hall for the right to have a caseta during the feria. While most cities will have casetas particular (private houses) there are always a few that are reserved for the visitors and allow free entry. What can you do inside a caseta? You can eat, drink, dance and watch others dancing flamenco – a favorite of everyone is watching the tiny babies who can barely walk dressed in a elaborate flamenco dress, slow turning in a circle, hands high in the air mimicking the more mature dancers.
You should be warned that you can easily spend a lot of money during a feria but the experience is well worth it. Seafood, wines, jamon Serrano (Spanish cured ham) and tortilla (a Spanish omelet made with potatoes and other ingredients – and about 2″-3″ thick) are the normal at ferias, with steak sandwiches with pepper, fried foods and other tasty foods being a close second in availability. The Spanish style is to drink moderately and continuously eat, so that you won’t suffer from over-drinking.
You’ll find that the feria grounds will really start to fill with people of all ages at about 2am, and even more so at 4am. Yes, this includes groups of teen boys and girlsâÂ?¦. Out all night! Ah, the spanish life!!
So, get your bags packed and get out those comfortable dancing shoes! I’ll see you at the feria!!!
