La Feria de Abril

La Feria de Abril 

     The most colorful  and happiest party in all Spain, it's located in Seville!. This fair is the most awaited and it takes places aroud the last weeks of April every year. 

This year, 2023, it is starting on the 23rd of April and it is going to finish on the 29th.

 Also known as "La feria de Sevilla" (The fair of Seville), it is the highlight of the year in this wondeful city. 

      

    

What is "La Feria de Abril"?

This beautiful tradition starts with " la noche del alumbrao", which means the nights of the lights, and it consist of a dinner celebration where everyone eats "pescaito frito" (fried fish) and wait for the lights to turn on.

This night is magical because once the light turn on, the party starts ! 

This fair last a week, and everyday of it you get to see flamenco dancing, horses, traditional music, fireworks...

The only goal of the fair is to gather around with family and friends and have a good time, dancing, singing and eating.  In addition, it's really important to get dressed in the traditional costumes that are shown in the picture below.

About the fair

It takes place in a really large area in which around 1050  booths are located, but most of them are private and the owners are groups of families and friends that invite people they know to make a party. However, there are also public boths where a lot of people go to have fun in.

The streets get covered by the of type yellow sand that is used in bullrings and lit by a lot of bright lights of different colors called "farolillos".

This happy tradition started in 1846 as a agriculture and animal fair but years later, the city started to grow so this anual fair gained more and more recognition until it became a popular festivity in the city. As it continued to grow, the precints they used as stables started to be used as booths which important families in Seville strated to buy and decorate how they wanted following the new design of the fair that a famous painter called Gustavo Bacarisas made so this event could be more atractive.

Personal recomendations ;)

- On the night of inaguration I would recommend  to be there around eight o'clock even if in Spain we  typically have dinner two hours later, because this festivity is popular all around the country and in some places of Europe, so a lot of people would be there, as you can see in the picture.

- Is also a good time to try some of the typical spanish dishes and gastronomy of quality like paella or papas aliñás, which is a type of potato salad.

-Book the flights and hotels as early as possible because the nearest to the event the more difficult it is to find a place to stay.

- Personally, I have never been to this amazing fair, but, I have family there and they own a booth, and they always tell me to be open to making new friends, as people is usually really friendly in this week so it's more easy to get invited to one ;)

Hope you liked getting to know this special spanish tradition!

Paula Esteban