La primera noche de feria (The First Night of Feria)

I think the best way to write about Feria is to do it journal-entry style because I am going a few different times and I imagine that each time I will have new, distinct thoughts as my relationship with Feria progresses. So, here’s the recap of the first night!

Feria officially starts at midnight on Monday when they light up the portada (big entrance way) and all the strings of lights weaving through the streets. I went, and didn’t get home until 5:14am. This is a big deal for me. Unlike pretty much all of my peers, American and Spanish, I have never done that before here. That said, last night was great and I didn’t feel insanely tired like I usually do. The casetas (tents, I’ll describe that in a second) were loud, bright, and festive, and there were old people out, young people out, and babies in strollers, being pushed through the mobbed streets at 2, 3, 4 in the morning. It was very much a social event for all ages, and because everyone else seemed to be ignoring the time (I’m not used to seeing people in their 80s breaking it down on the dance floor at 3am), I did, too.

Liliana and her apartment-mate, Anne, in front of the portada (main entrance) just after it lit up, celebrating the official start of feria.

So, first I should explain the way feria is set up. Basically, there are fair grounds out on the side of one of Sevilla’s neighborhoods, Los Remedios, and during the feria, which is one week at the end of April, it springs to life. It’s a HUGE ground, with cobblestone streets and plenty of room to erect the tents (casetas). The casetas are one after another after another, down street after street—there are so many that, in addition to the name, each caseta also has a number below it to make it easier for people to find different casetas. Casetas vary in size, but without fail there is always a seating area, a bar, and a place to dance inside each one. There are some public casetas, but most are private. To be get into a caseta, you either have to belong to it (ie pay a ton of money) or know someone who has a caseta (in most casetas, you can invite other friends who aren’t part of your caseta in for some manzanilla (the feria drink) and sevillanas (flamenco dancing, Sevilla style).

I went with Cristina, her two fantastic friends Ellie and Alejandra, and Liliana and Anne, Liliana’s French apartment-mate. Everyone got along really well and we had a lot of fun. Cristina’s friends were easily the nicest, most jovial and thoughtful Spanish girls I have met (other than Cristina, of course), so that was really nice. At points I felt like I was seeing 2 of the 3 stooges when I watched them interact, but in a very endearing way. They are clearly very smart, but unlike most other Spaniards our age around here who are very formal with keeping up appearances, Ellie and Alejandra had no problem having fun (illustrative picture to follow). Although, I will say, they were both spectacularly dressed. Cristina told me I shouldn’t wear jeans, but it was kind of cold so I did anyway, and I felt really out of place. Each of them had on a nice dress and was very made up. As the night wore on, though, it was less important—we were all too busy dancing and having fun. Plus, the fact that I’m a foreigner cuts me some slack, I think.

The feria is very, very, very classist. At first I was overwhelmed. So, if you’re rich you have a caseta or if you’re moderately rich you know someone with a caseta. Okay. If you’re middle to lower class, you either just walk through the streets or go to the public casetas, which are fine but not nearly as nice as the private ones (obviously). Then, next to the part of feria with the city of casetas, there’s a carnival. Ferris Wheel, little roller coasters, rides that flip you upside-down, etc. There are also cheap carnival-esque places to get food and churros and things like that. I walked through there with Anne and Liliana before meeting up with the others, and everyone there was clearly poorer and had no business being in the other part of feria. I was blown away by such an obvious division in classes and in society within the feria… but I guess in the end all societies have something like that, in one way or another. To me, the divisions in feria just felt blatantly obvious.

So, the first night of feria goes until the early hours (when I left, there were HUGE lines for the buses out—easily hundreds of people waiting in line for the same bus), and it stays in full swing. But, something interesting: Sevillanos don’t dress up in the full, traditional flamenco gear that first night. People were dressed more for a prom or a really fancy wedding. Cristina told me to look out for people who were dressed in their full flamenco dresses, complete with accessories, because they were foreigners—or at least Spaniards not from Sevilla. And it was true. They looked very out of place and very uncomfortable. Cristina and her friends found it amusing. It’s an interesting way of making dress such an elemental part of whether or not you truly belong at the feria.

We started the night at Cristina’s family’s caseta (they wanted to belong to one but didn’t want to pay too much, so they joined the Club Asturias tent even though they aren’t from Asturias) and got some manzanilla, the feria drink. It was funny because the girls couldn’t exactly tell us what it was or how strong it is. It’s Sprite mixed with sherry, I think, after some investigative work. We drank and talked, then tried dancing, but it was mostly older people and they weren’t playing Sevillana music, so we couldn’t dance flamenco. We left and went to a public caseta, where we danced for awhile. It was interesting because the classes that I took were much, much more technically correct than what everyone else did. We had learned a more complicated way, so we had to de-learn it and just do what everyone else was doing (and had learned after years of going to the feria). It was a lot of fun, although I was pretty horrible, and plan to work on my dancing skills more when I go back to the feria.

At the start of the night (aka around 12:30am) in Cristina's caseta (most casetas are big enough where you can belong and still not know anyone else inside--definitely little groups rather than a bunch of people who all know each other). From left to right: Anne, Cristina, Me (sweater and longsleeved shirt = NOT dress code), Ellie, and Alejandra.

Outside of the caseta asturiana after our first stop.

One of the streets of feria before midnight, when all those red and white lanterns light up, too. This will look better during the day when I go back, but it just gives you an idea of what the casetas look like from the outside. You go in, and it's like part of a building inside (depending on how nice the caseta is).

In the carnival side of the feria, they had the normal rides and things, but with a very Andalucian twist. For example, rather than winning stuffed animals, you could win a ham leg, bread, and olive oil. This particular stand cracked me up -- it was a place to buy drinks, but inside were two plastic figures in typical dress mashing the grapes to make wine for decoration. Sufficiently tacky and hilarious.

Cristina dancing sevillanas in the second caseta we went to--a public one, technically intended for two specific neighborhoods in Sevilla, but it didn't matter.

Me and Cristina in the third caseta we went to, which Ellie's parents invited us in to for awhile (and supplied us with food and drink)!

This is the picture of Alejandra being ridiculous and very funny. The guitarist was taking a break in the caseta (Ellie's parents had the nicest caseta out of all the ones we went to--you can tell if you compare this background to the one with Cristina dancing) and Alejandra decided to act like she was a flamenco singer.

Cristina and Alejandra after a moving round of sevillanas (outside of the red and white flap is the street).

A video of everyone dancing sevillanas in the public caseta. I had to stop recording at the end because Lili made me go dance... she's talking in Spanish, but saying "come on, Emma, you know how to dance this!!"


A video of everyone dancing sevillanas in that last caseta we went to. The difference is interesting--you can also note the difference in age range, in dress, and in class, generally. If you look in this video, you can also see to the room behind the dance floor, which was where the full bar area and bathrooms (each caseta has a bathroom) were.

I have a few invites from other people to go to their casetas (Luisa from the center, Nacho who I teach English to), so I might go today, but I am absolutely going tomorrow before my flight because Cristina invited me to go have lunch with her there. She’s going to be dressed in all her flamenco stuff and I’m going to go, too, in the modest flamenco-esque outfit I put together. We should have some good photos! In the end, though, all of this just goes to show that here, people take their parties and festivities VERY seriously. In some ways, it reminded me of prom, except with horses and carriages instead of limos, and for the entire community for an entire week. Quite an interesting experience.

I’m not sure if I’ll get to posting the rest of feria stuff before I leave for Paris (considering the best photos are going to be taken the same day I leave, with everyone dressed in their flamenco outfits and the wealthy country men on horseback and in carriage), which is a bummer, but if you don’t hear from me before Wednesday night, I’ll be back to writing again sometime early next week (I’m in Paris until Monday night, and then school is going to hit (unfortunately) at full force). Thanks for reading this particularly verbose entry!