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"The festivities of Andalucía" There is no better way to get to know the Andalucians than through their many and fascinating feast days.
Three Kings Fiesta de Los Reyes. This is the moment when the three kings of Orient bring their Christmas presents to the children, on the evening of the 5th of January. Three men dress up as the kings, one with a black face, and ride about the town in a procession, scattering sweets to the crowds of excited children. The 6th of January is the public holiday in all Spain. Carnivals As elsewhere in the Catholic world, carnival is celebrated before the 40 days of Lent. Most Andalucian towns stage some kind of parade, and there is usually a dance and a "Carnival Queen" contest. As one of Spain's major ports during the 16th century, Cadiz copied the carnival of Venice, a city with which it had much trade, and since then it has become the liveliest and most dazzling carnival town in mainland Spain, famous for its amusing and creative figurines and satirical song groups. The Carnival centres around Shrove Tuesday (March 4th 2003, February 24th 2004, February 8th 2005, February 28th 2006) most towns celebrate the carnival with processions the weekend either before or after. Larger towns have festivities lasting all week.
Easter - Semana Santa or "Holy Week" The Easter week processions compete with one another in luxury and splendour. The parades leave each of the town's churches to wind slowly around the streets, with their lifelike statues of Christ on the Cross-and his mother the Virgin Mary in mourning. The processions are organised by the religious brotherhoods, representing guilds of tradesmen or other groups. They spend all year long preparing the elaborate costumes and decorations. This is a serious fiesta and fireworks are not permitted. Drinking and celebrating is still found upon by many. The most outstanding Easter week processions are those of the cities of Seville, Malaga and Cordoba and Granada, though the spectacle is worth seeing in any town or village. In particulier, Estepona, Ronda, Arcos de la Frontera, Luque (Saturday), Baeza, Cabra, Jerez, Rio Gordo, Ubeda, Puente Genil, Huercal. The processions take place during the week leading up to Easter Sunday. (April 20th 2003, April 11th 2004, March 27th 2005, April 16th 2006). The best days are Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Saturday. Easter Sunday itself has less intensity generally. Exceptions being the towns of Castilleja de la Cuesta, Pillas, Coria del Rio, Almaden de la Plata, and Setenil. Seville Spring Fair The first of the summer fairs, festivities of the April Fair were born in Seville in 1847 and are a perfect expression of the Andalucian personality. Always two weeks after Easter Week. The fair takes place just two weeks after Semana Santa so if you have the energy you can enjoy both spectacles during your stay in Seville. For its duration, a vast area is on the far bank of the river, the Real de la Feria is totally covered in rows of casetas, canvas pavilions or tents of varying sizes. Some of these belong to eminent sevillano families, some to groups of friends, others to clubs, trade associations or political parties. In each one, from around nine at night until perhaps six or seven the following morning, there is flamenco singing and dancing. Many of the men and virtually all the women wear traditional costume, the latter in an astonishing array of brilliantly coloured, flounced gypsy dresses. The sheer size of this spectacle is extraordinary, and the dancing with its intense and knowing sexuality, a revelation. Most infectious of all is the universal spontaneity of enjoyment. After wandering around staring with the crowds, you wind up a part of it, drinking and dancing in one of the open casetas that have commercial bars. Among these, you will usually find lively casetas erected by all manners of clubs and societies including various anarchistic groups. Some are 'entrance by invitation only' others more welcoming. The 'caseta municipal' is run by the town hall, and is one of the largest and always open to everyone, but it can be completely full if well-known band or singer is on stage. From around midday until early evening, Seville society parades around the fairground in carriages or on horseback. An incredible extravaganza of display and voyeurism, this has subtle but distinct gradations of dress and style, catch it at least one. There are also bullfights on a daily basis which are generally considered the best of the season. The feria usually starts on a Saturday and runs nine days to the following Sunday night. Actually, the feria officially starts at midnight on the Sunday night (but there will be much activity during the preceding weekend). We calculate the following start dates, at OO.OO hours on:
Jerez holds the Jerez May Horse fair on the first week in May each year and takes place in the Gonzalez Hontoria Park. Some of the world's finest horses and riders compete in the endurance trials, coach driving, "pursuit and tumble" and dressage competitions. With a stunning display of the finest horses of the region. May Crosses May is a month of festivities in Cordoba, starting with the Crosses of May Festival (1st, 2nd and 3rd of May which is Santa Cruz day) the crosses identify distinct zones of the town which compete for the prize of the best florally decorated cross. The preparations take place secretly in the preceding months when women and children use this opportunity to sing and dance. In older times, it was an excuse for young single people to meet. The event is organized by brotherhoods and financed by voluntary contributions in the neighbourhood. With the preparations made, the crosses are dressed and the fiesta lasts various days. Representatives from each brotherhood act as judges to vote on the best dressed cross. The local tourist office will give you a map, as in Cordoba you may need help to find the crosses. Other village the dress crosses are Condado de Huelva, Sierra de Aracena, Andevalo, Almonaster la Real, Bonares, Ubrique. Patio contests The famous Cordoba Patio Contest (about 4th to 16th May), in which homeowners compete for the prize awarded to the most beautifully decorated patio. The map provided by the local Tourism Office will help you find the competing courtyards that are open to the public during the day. This one is not to be missed for those that like flowers and gardens or are just interested to look inside the patios of private houses. San Lucar Manzanilla (Wine) Fair A lively fair dedicated to the Manzanilla, which is a special dry sherry wine, produced in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. This intense fair which is organised by the town council and supported by the local wine producers last for several days about the third week in May. Rocío Pilgrimage Andalusia is famous for its pilgrimages or "romerías" - so called because pilgrims traditionally walked to Rome, and therefore became known as "romeros" - to popular shrines, around which fiestas are held. Many towns celebrate their Romaria to a local shrine a few miles away. It is a day in the countryside visiting a chapel or a sanctuary. Interestingly it is one of the few fiestas that are celebrated outside the nucleus of the town. The sanctuary is a physical and a spiritual point of reference. The departure from the town the to the sanctuary is a proud public ceremony with all the necessary elements in a certain order. Flags and standards carried are by horsemen, decorated carts, men or women who are serving a penance, then tractors, lorries and all sorts of agricultural vehicles. The municipal band usually provides the music. Perhaps the most spectacular is the one devoted to the Virgen del Rocío, popularly called "El Rocio" for short. Nearly a million people from all over Spain and Andalusia make long journey to gather in a small hamlet of El Rocio in the marshlands of the Guadalquivir River delta (south of Almonte), where the statue of the "Madonna of the Dew" has been worshipped since 1280. The pilgrims come on horseback and in gaily decorated covered wagons from all over the region, transforming the area into a colourful and noisy party. The climax of the festival is the weekend before Pentercost Monday (9th June 2003, 31 May 2004, 16 May 2005, 5 June 2006). In the early hours of the Monday, the Virgin is brought out of the church. This remarkable event is always televised. Corpus Christi Corpus Christi (the Catholic feast celebrating the presence of the body of Christ in the holy wafer) is held in June, beginning on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. A solemn and magnificent procession bears the consecrated host through the streets. Although Corpus Christi is celebrated everywhere in Andalusia, it is most famous in Granada, especially for the Granada Festival of Music and Dance, which supplants the passion plays that traditionally followed the religious rituals. Representatives of the local government walk side by side with the churchmen, followed by the people, along streets strewn with sweet-smelling cypress branches and flowers. The Corpus Christi festival was created in 1246 in Liege, Belgium, and after the Archbishop of that town was elected Pope, it was later adopted throughout Europe. It reached Toledo 1280 and in Seville 1282 and all Spain by XIV century. It was particularly popular in XVI and XVII centuries. The solemn processions represent the power of the church. The civil and military authorities also take part. All in their commemorative uniform, a colourful spectacle. In Granada it lasts three days where is one of the most important of festivals in the towns calendar. Actually, Corpus Christi is celebrated in most towns in Andalusia but of particular note are Zahara de la Sierra, Seville, Cadiz, Malaga, Casabermeja, Marchena, and Torreperogil. Early Summer Pilgrimages The Madonna known as La Virgen de la Cabeza is enshrined in a forbidding sanctuary on a cliff overlooking the wild hills of the Sierra Morena, north of the city of Andújar in Jaen Province. The pilgrimage is celebrated on the last Sunday of April. This celebration has its origins in the 13th century, and some half a million people gather to see the Virgin paraded among the forests for over 30 kilometres.
Cabra Gypsy Festival, province of Córdoba by gypsies to the hermitage of Santa María. El Cristo del Paño The pilgrimage to the shrine of El Cristo del Paño, in the castle town of Moclin, in northern Granada Province, not far from Montefrio. This painting of Christ bearing the cross is believed to heal aged people of their cataracts (el paño, or the cloth, is the popular name for this condition, which "veils" one's sight). Touching the painting is also supposed to make childless women fertile, and the miracle is mentioned in Lorca´s tragic play Barren. Fishing towns La Virgen del Mar (Virgin of the Sea) is the patron saint of Almeria, and her statue is born on a carriage decorated with flowers to the hermitage dedicated to her. The most stirring moment of the procession is when she is taken from the lighthouse to the dock by boat. La Virgen del Carmen is the protectors of seamen and at the end of day on July 16th the towns and fishing villages of the coast parade their statues of her by the water, and set sail in gaily adorned boats, accompanied by the blowing of horns and bursts of fireworks in the night sky. A good place to see this fiesta is Estepona, where the Virgen del Carmen is one of the town's most beloved saints. Saint John's feast - San Juan - is held on the night of the 24th of June, and is celebrated on Andalusia's beaches with bonfires and fireworks. For good luck, the tradition is to dip their feet in the sea just after midnight. Tread carefully as sometimes the lively ones end up in the sea fully clothed. Summer Fairs Every town and village in Andalusia has its own feria or fair, and it would be possible, if one had superhuman powers of endurance, to spend the whole summer following them about the region. The summer annual feria originated in the middle ages, and was the principal means of interchange of local products within the kingdom. The first feria takes place at Seville in April (two weeks after Semana Santa) and the last is at San Pedro de Alcantara in mid October. The 'day fair' takes place it the streets of the town itself. Streets are closed to traffic, businesses close for the week. Tables and chairs are set up and the bars serve food and drink in the street, and music plays from every corner. People of all ages sing and dance. Visitors are always welcome.
At night, the fair shifts to the public fairground or "recinto ferial" on the outskirts of the town. There is a traditional amusement park with lots of rides for the children, and tents or "casetas" set up by the various clubs, associations and political parties of the town, some with entertainment and all with a bar. . Many, some would say too, many of the Casetas are by private invitation only. Outsiders are invariably welcomed, just ask if you can go in, if not try the next one. There is always the large 'Caseta Municipal' put up by the town council and open to everybody. On some evenings, there will be a top-billing singer, for which tickets will be sold on the door at a reasonable price. These are usually very popular and often sell out. Here are dates for fair-goers of some of the larger towns. We offer a bottle of wine to the first reader who manages to visit every one in the same year.
This festival is more popular in the East of Spain, in Andalusia in the provinces of Granada and Almeria; it takes place on different many days through out the year depending on the locality. San Sebastian on 20 January, San Roque 15 August, San Antonio on June 13th are popular choices. The origins are obviously the battles following the re-conquest on the XVI and XVII century. The usual format for the fiesta is first a procession of the Moors and the Christians, then a theatrical enactment of verbal attacks and rejections by both groups, a battle enactment with skirmishes and dances, the conversion or the death of the moors, and finally homage to the patron saint. Nowadays with greater affluence, the uniforms are more spectacular. The Christians wear the uniforms of the soldiers of the re-conquest. The moors wear basic short-sleeved cotton jackets. Almeria Province
All Saints Day On November 1st, fiestas called "Tosantos" (contraction of "todos los santos", or "all saints") are celebrated in the markets of Cadiz and the surrounding villages.
The feast of San Martín, on 11th November, is the occasion for the slaughtering of pigs, in preparation for the winter-time drying of hams and sausages, at a fiesta called la matanza - literally, the killing - in all the towns and villages of the mountain areas of Andalusia. The day begins with the killing of the pigs and is spent butchering the carcass and stuffing sausages and black pudding. A great deal of eating and drinking accompanies these events. The Verdiales Music Festival takes place 28th of December at the Venta at 'Puerta de la Torre' on the C3311 road towards Almogia. The Pandas or groups of musicians from local villages compete on stage. More interesting are the spontanious practice and jamming sessions where they fiddle, strum and rattle their instruments in a cocophonous frenzy, while bottles of potent Malaga wine and aguadiente are passed from hand to hand. They appear in traditional costumes with unusual flowery headgear also fastened with mirrors, bells, beads, and ribbons.
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