Ferial de Abril in Seville
Apartments in Seville: Feria de Abril in Seville
Like every year the traditional “alumbrao” (lighting) will kick off the 2008 Feria de Abril. After which will follow 7 days of festivities, sevillanas, tapas, bullfights, and horses and carriages that have made this Andalusian festivity famous around the world with its colour and flamenco flavour. It all starts with the inauguration and turning on of the lights of the Feria’s gate. This year the date is set for the 8th of April and the time, as tradition dictates, will be on the strike of midnight of the Tuesday.
This year, the design of the gate, as is traditional, is inspired by an emblematic Sevillian monument. Under the title “CostureroSevilla”, the design this year is inspired by Costurero de la Reina (The Queen’s Tailor) the brilliant piece by the draughtsman José Manuel Peña Jiménez. Its colourfulness and peculiar architecture are the reasons behind the artist’s use of this emblematic monument. The gate will be 50 metres long and 40 tall, with 25,000 25 watt lights.
Established for over 150 years, people come from across the country and even the world to be a part of this riot of sensual stimulation. For the Spanish it is an excuse to dress up in fabulous traditional clothes, with women in brightly coloured gypsy dresses and men sporting short jackets, tight trousers and boots of the caballeros. The Feria is a time set aside purely for pleasure as most businesses are closed for the duration of the week long festivities.
The Casetas during the Feria de Abril in Seville
Inside the Feria, there are over a thousand casetas (metal structures covered in canvas where drinks are served and music is played), hundreds of thousands of visitors and hundreds of stands and recreational activities fill the enclosure of the Feria de Abril, in the Los Remedios neighbourhood and is divided into three sections: Real de la Feria, Calle del Infierno, and the parking lots. The casetas are hosted by groups of aristocratic Sevillana families, clubs, trade unions and political parties. Each of the tents has its own atmosphere and traditions. Some are invitation-only affairs, while others are ‘open’ and have commercial bars. So just roam around and find the vibe that works for you.
One of the most notorious and fun casetas is ‘Er 77′ where wine is drawn from a well and poured from buckets, and cots are offered in the back for napping. Another famous tent is ‘Los Duendes de Sevilla’ (The Goblins of Seville) which is named for a painting by Alvarez Quintero.
The Real de la Feria, centre of the celebration, will be made up of 24 blocks, extending over 450,000 metres square, housing 1.047 “casetas” (huts) set out in 15 streets bearing the names of the city’s important bullfighters. The party will go on in the traditional “casetas” with song and dance (especially sevillanas), wine, fried fish and tapas, carriages and bullfighting.
At night, you can visit the huge funfair or make your way into one of the thousand or so casetas which are, depending on size, either tents or grand marquees set up by various groups and organisations. Watch live performances, partake in flamenco dancing and singing or share a drink and watch the festivities. Each caseta is brightly decorated and usually open until 7am.
Parade of horses and bullfights during the Feria de Abril in Seville
La Feria has a full program of events during the daytime. There are daily parades of horses and decorated carriages that wind their way through the city and fairground. This equestrian display is accompanied by strolling singers who play traditional Sevillana ballads on their guitars. Many participants in these parades are members of Seville’s aristocracy, and they are exquisitely outfitted in the unique wide-brimmed ‘bolero’ hats and short-cropped jackets that are closely associated with Andalusia.
The bullfights at La Feria are considered to be the best of the season. The action takes place at 5:30pm each afternoon at the imposing Plaza de Toros de Maestranza, which is known to locals as ‘the Cathedral’ and is considered one of the most beautiful bullrings in Spain.
History of the Feria de Abril in Seville
The Feria de Abril began in 1847 as a livestock fair where cattle, horses, farming tools, etc. used to be bought and sold. It is a curious anecdote that it was a Catalan and a Basque, who were councillors in the Seville town council, who asked Queen Isabel II permission to hold this livestock fair on a yearly basis. The people from Seville could not have imagined how that was going to end up.
The feast was started by the people who had to take care of the livestock during the entire 24 hours of the day, and who livened up its nights by boasting about the quality of their wines, or about how well their wives cooked. As they went along with their whole families, the fun spread from the night-time to the rest of the day, and became continuous. The Sevillians who visited the fair immediately became aware of the amount of partying that was going on there, and they would frequently show up to have a few tapas, or to dance with a pretty gypsy woman.
After the Easter Holy Week, there was no popular feast to celebrate the Resurrection, and this led the people of Seville to give this feast a religious connotation. It may well have been an excuse to have a good time, or maybe it wasn’t, but what is certain is that the livestock fair, in time, came to be regarded as something secondary. The plots in which the cattle farmers struck their deals started being covered with marquees to protect the party-goers from the sun and the rain. And beneath the marquees, tables and chairs in which to rest were placed, next to which, of course, were a kitchen and a barrel of wine.
