With spring just around the corner, these days nearly every single conversation I have with Spaniards eventually turns to one of the big holidays/festivals coming up: Semana Santa and Feria in Sevilla, and Carnaval in Cádiz. Why? These events are a huge deal here, and there are plenty of people who spend the entire year getting ready and looking forward to them. Also, all of these events are a foreign concept for me, so I'm intrigued to learn as much as possible about them! Here is some of my understanding so far:
Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the week before Easter, and Sevilla has one of the largest, most elaborate celebrations in Spain. Each day features the procession of pasos - large, heavy floats with sculptures of religious figures, carried underneath by around 40 men - throughout the city. Tons of people from all over come for Semana Santa and the streets are packed…I talked to one sevillano who lives in an apartment in the city center, and he said that once during Semana Santa he was 10 meters from his door but it took him 2 hours to reach it!
La Feria ("fair") is a week-long celebration that's the third week of April this year. It started as a livestock fair, and now is based around dancing sevillanos, being with friends and family, eating and drinking. All of this takes place in the large fairgrounds in casetas (tents). Some casetas are public, but most are privately held by groups of families, friends, or companies. From what I've heard it sounds like tons of partying in a private tent with all your friends and family! Luckily the people in my group have unofficial sevillanos lessons in the lab so I'll know how to dance for Feria. :)
Carnaval is a several weeks-long carnival in February, the largest and most famous being the one in Cádiz (city on the coast of Spain, 1-2 hours south of Sevilla). Carnaval revolves around the performance of musical groups that compose their own music and lyrics, usually witty and/or funny criticisms and parodies. There are different types of groups and each sings a certain set of types of songs, and the competition between groups starts a few weeks before the actual Carnaval. My two roommates are from the province of Cádiz, and one of the people in my lab is also from a pueblo in Cádiz and has sung for the last few years with a group for Carnaval - they prepare intensely for months for their performances. I'm lucky to get a very inside perspective on this festival!
I'm excited to experience all of these within the next few months. I've been hearing about these literally since the first day I got to Sevilla in the fall and I'm looking forward to seeing them in person!
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