Festivals in Sevilla

The Easter Holy Week, "Semana Santa", and the Seville Fair, "La Feria de Abril" (also "Feria de Sevilla")

The Easter Holy Week, "Semana Santa", and the Seville Fair, "La Feria de Abril" (also "Feria de Sevilla") are the two most well-known of Seville's festivals. Seville is internationally renowned for the solemn but beautiful processions during Semana Santa and the colourful and lively fair held two weeks after.

Semana Santa :

The Holy Week in Seville is one of the most important religious and traditional events of all Spain and has an international resonance in the catholic world. It is almost impossible to explain the atmosphere and what it is all about, you just must come and see it to know what we are talking about.

The event starts with Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) and finishes the following Sunday which is Easter Sunday (Domingo de Resurrección). Each day (and night) of this week there are processions (pasos) that take an image from its home church to the cathedral to be blessed. The images are beautiful wooden figures representing The Passion of Christ. Every procession consists in a leading cross, sometimes followed by a music band playing funeral marches, a representation of Maria, a representation of Christ and finally another cross. In total there are up to 58 diferent brotherhoods (hermandades) that go out with their image, some of

them takes it nonetheless than 24 hours to get to the cathedral and back to their church.

Many Sevillians accompany the images dressing the nazareno habit carrying wax candles, crosses or preceding to the passages with huge chandliers. Others make the penance station carrying their image on their shoulders, they are called "costaleros". Up to 64 men carry one image. The figure itself is situated on a wooden and richly decorated construction under a canopy. It is surrounded by flowers and candles and dressed in beautiful fabric.

Feria de Abril:

The fair begins every year after the Semana Santa, normally, two weeks later.

The Fair dates back to 1847 when it was originally organized as a livestock fair. Nowadays, the fair grounds are a vast area located on the far bank of the Guadalquivir River. This area, for just the week of Feria, is set up like a type of village full of “casetas” (tents) in which each street is named after a famous torero (bull fighter).

During Feria, families set up their casetas (tents), in which they spend the week dancing, drinking, and socializing with their extended families. The women wear elaborate flamenco dresses and the men dress in their best suits.

The fair week officially begins at midnight on Monday, running for the whole week and ending on the following Sunday. However, many activities have begun on the Sunday prior to the official opening. Each day the fiesta begins with the parade of carriages and riders. From around nine at night until six or seven the following morning, at first in the streets and later only within each caseta, you will find crowds partying and dancing "Sevillanas", drinking Jerez sherry, or manzanilla wine, and eating tapas.