Sunday April 6-Thursday April 10

Nothing much happened between the time I got back and April 7, when Mom and Dad came back to Seville, on their way to Madrid and ultimately on their way home. On calendars, Feria de Abril (April Fair) begins on April 6 this year, but technically it begins Monday evening. The fairgrounds near my home stay were decorated to the extreme, with paper streamers, thousands of paper lanterns and twinkling lights. The grounds were filled with casetas (tent-like booths with tables and chairs inside EVERY single one, and we’re talking about maybe more than a thousand of these things). There are also lots of carnival rides and games and booths for food. For a week, families all go to their caseta and party together, drinking rebujito (Sprite mixed with sherry, which is surprisingly good and very refreshing) and dancing late into the night. The womens’ dresses blew me away. I had seen them in stores but never believed that anyone really wore them. Well, they definitely do. The are full-length, made of heavy material, often polka dotted or plain (never patterns like stripes or flowers), with ruffles galore all over the bottom. Then they wear a shawl in a complementary color pinned around their shoulders, high heels, and matching bracelets/earrings/necklace/rings/giant hair flower. They are, without a doubt, the most cumbersome, senseless outfits I’ve ever seen. Oh yeah, and it rained and poured during much of Feria here in Sevilla, which made for extremely muddy fairgrounds, which meant that these poor women took hours to get ready in their best dresses, only to go get drenched. The men wear suits and some wear trajes flamenco (a special outfit of tailored pants, tight jacket and very low-heeled shoes, worn only during Feria). Walking though the fairgrounds, I was reminded of being at the OC Fair because of all the rides, kids, games and food. But then I’d wander by a caseta of impeccably dressed women and their impeccably dressed children, and I remembered I was in Sevilla.

During the week of April 7, which was void of school and work, I went to the Feria grounds a few times but ended up spending too much time indoors because it rained so hard. Every night the rain in Sevilla was on the news, because so much money is invested in the activities of Feria that some people worried it would be a huge economic bust. But it wasn’t. Sevillanos love their Feria, rain or shine.

The Feria gate, lit up at night.
Exhibit A) red polka-dot Feria dress.
Exhibit B) two more polka-dot dresses. Note: these women are walking around in the dirt with all their ruffles and finery.
Exhibit C) Elaborately dressed woman riding horseback.

A funny photo of a bunch of horse butts with very well-dressed riders. All these men are wearing very nicely tailored suits. And behind them, note all the casetas. There were SOOO many of them.Three adorable little girls, dressed in ruffles from head to toe, riding in a horse-drawn carriage. Even the horses are dressed up.
Incredibly cute little girl: please note that she is wearing a dress with more ruffles and lace than you can imagine, AND she has a pacifier in her mouth. You're never too young to dress flamenco in Sevilla.
Good shot (creeper-style, but a good shot nonetheless) into a caseta. Note two polka-dot dresses on the left, lots of chairs and tables, and the family eating and drinking together. Feria, in a nutshell.