Blog 16: ¡Feria Loca! (Crazy Feria!)

 Blog 16: ¡Feria Loca! (Crazy Feria!)

            After traveling to Morocco and Portugal, I was completely worn out. I just wanted to crawl into a ball on my bed and sleep through my week off school. But this of course wasn’t an option. Spaniards have this huge, cultural fiesta called Feria de Abril (April Fair). If there’s one thing I learned during Feria, it’s that the Spanish know how to throw a good party. And it’s not just one crazy, fun filled night of shenanigans. It’s a week long, non-stop party! Everyone, from babies to eighty year olds are still out at midnight. So let me, to my best ability, describe the craziness that is Feria.

            If you want to see the Spanish culture at it’s best, you might want to come to Sevilla during Feria. Almost all women from Sevilla will wear trajes de flamenco (flamenco dresses), huge flores (flowers) in their hair, and equally large aretes (earrings). When you see a group of them together, it’s like seeing a mass of color coming at you. The trajes de flamenco can be extremely expensive (think about prom dress prices) and women take flamenco dress shopping seriously. The fashion seemed to be mermaid shaped cut with ruffles on the bottom. They have dresses in every shade of color and many have poka dots on them. If you can’t decide which color, no te preocupes (no worries!). I saw a couple dresses that looked like a walking rainbow. As for me, I got extremely lucky and my intercambio lent me one of her old dresses. So for a few days I was able to dress up like a Sevillana. I found the dress incredibly beautiful, but also heavy and hard to walk in since I needed to wear high heels so props to the ladies during Feria. Of course the guys had it much easier and most wore suits.

            The Feria festivities take place in a sectioned off area of the city. Half of Feria is filled with casetas and the other half is a carnival. The carnival side is a typical fair with games, rides, and a circus. But the caseta half of Feria is the unique part. Casetas are basically huge tents that look like a house on the inside. Most casetas have a cocina (kitchen), bar, and salón (lounge). The inside of each caseta is unique and beautifully decorated. There are chandeliers, lanterns, and paintings making some casetas look like they emerged straight of the pages of some home décor magazine. Here’s the crazy part, some families will take up to 2000 dollar loans just so they can have caseta. Told you Feria is crazy! But people can’t just waltz into any old caseta. Most casetas have a guest list and a guard is in the front making sure you’re on the list. So most casetas are private. But there are public casetas which turn into mini clubs late at night. I learned that Fería even has its own specialty bebida (drink). It’s called Rebujito and is a mix of Sprite and white wine (so good). And along with your normal dance music is traditional Sevillana dances that pretty much every Sevilla native knows by heart. I couldn’t partake in this dance, but it was so neat to watch the flashing dresses as the Sevillanas twirled around the dance floor.

Inside of a caseta

            The entrance way into Feria is called the portado and every year they design a new one (this year’s one is inspired by Plaza de España). The streets were lined with white and red lanterns and all this (the portado and the lanterns) are lit up at night. It’s so beautiful at night to see all the lights illuminate the streets of Feria. Finally there are horses and buggies all over the streets. I “risked my life” many a time trying to take a picture and almost getting run over by a horse. Overall Feria was a really unique, wonderful experience. I absolutely loved how passionate the people are and how hard they try to keep their culture alive.  If you want to see Sevilla pride run wild, come during Feria.

Funny bull ride in the carnival