feria sevilla 2016
14 Thursday Apr 2016
Tag Archives: festivals
feria horses and hoes
28 Saturday Apr 2012
Every year I try to get over to the April spring fair (Feria de abril) at least once to take photos of the horses during the afternoon. This year I also saw what appear to be Feria hoes!
It wasn’t a great day for taking pics, all overcast and grey. But at least it wasn’t raining and so I spent a couple of hours walking around the site after lunch.
When I first moved to Sevilla I was much more interested in Feria and would join the crowds for the opening night “alumbrao” when they lit up the gateway at midnight on the Monday and then stay until the wee hours. Although it’s pretty much an exclusive event for those who can afford their own private caseta, I would always get plenty of invitations so I could avoid the (quite awful) barnlike public ones. But frankly, since I don’t dance sevillanas and don’t enjoy milling about talking trash with a bunch of privileged posers, I eventually stopped going, except to see the horses.
There are more Feria photos – including some of horses for Beth! – over here.
I also quite like this collage of colourful ruffles I made…
[click on image to enlarge]
rained out
04 Wednesday Apr 2012
Tags
customs, easter holy week, festivals, semana santa, sevilla, seville, spain
[click on image to enlarge]
Things have been very quiet around here Semana Santa-wise. After months of scarcely any rainfall it’s pretty much been coming down non-stop since Palm Sunday. Tomorrow it looks like it may lift for about 24 hours before starting up again on Friday.
Above are some pics I took on Monday evening. It was quite sad to see everything deserted and the odd nazareno – like that young boy – making his disconsolate way home after his procession was cancelled.
On the right are a couple of rogue nazarenos I saw yesterday, making their way over to their church. But about an hour later the skies really opened up. Me? I was all cosy at home in PJs watching a film on DVD with Peter and the cats, as I will be again this evening. But tomorrow I have a tapas tour – I don’t know what I was thinking! Oh right, about paying the rent 😉 …. but in fact I do love a challenge and so it should be an interesting night.
It’s actually been a few years since I’ve gone out following the processions and looking for the best vantage points. But I do love Semana Santa and the general upheaval and chaos. I don’t even mind the inconvenience of shops being closed or not being able to get out and about because of the crowds. I guess a part of me enjoys how this crazy week really shakes things up. And in spite of loving my “new” home I still miss hearing La Madrugá played below my bedroom balcony on Martes Santo… so glad now I got up to film that video as it was my last time.
Oh, and this is also the first time in my 19 years here that the orange blossom (azahar) has coincided with Semana Santa. It also seems to be lasting a bit longer this year. Heaven.
casa azahar 