Trip to Italy was cancelled...So I did the next best thing...FERIA!

So this past week we had no school as it is the feria de abril in Sevilla. This celebration is famed around the world and draws in over 1.000.000 visitors during the week. For the most part, Sevillanos don't work on this week, but rather party...and I must admit, they do it right. The fair began in 1847, when it was originally a livestock fair, in true sevillano style, two years later, the fair had transformed into this "feria." The feria begins on Monday at midnight, when the main gate to the fair grounds is illuminated, it is completley covered in lights. Also at this time, they illuminate all the lights on the streets through the grounds. Each year the design of the main gateway changes! Each day the fair begins with horse-drawn carriages parading through the streets, and also men on hoseback dressed in traditional costumes, it isn't rare to see their novia (lady-friend) riding side-saddle on the back in her traditional flamenco dress. Almost all the women wear flamenco get ups, complete with a flower in their hair. These dresses are what I would compare to our prom dresses, very expensive, with styles changing every year! Let me quickly explain what a caseta is, this way when I refer to them later, it is easy to understand. A caseta, is basically a party tent, pretty narrow, normally, and long. In the back you'll find a bar and in the front tables. They are each ornately decorated with lace covering the walls, and the ceiling is draped with lace also. Often there are crystal chandeliers and paintings on the walls, each one is beautiful in its own way. The catch about the casetas is, that they are often owned by a prominent family, a group of friends, a company, a church, a political party, etc. There are public casetas, but they are crowded, and dirty. To really enjoy feria, you need to know someone with a caseta, or have your own. They owners hire secuirty guards, cooks, bartenders, people to set up/tear down, clean, etc. This way when they show up with guests, they just enjoy. Everyone goes to their caseta and normally spends the enitre day and night and morning, enjoying the Sevillana music (similar to flamenco), dances, eats, laughs, and drinks the traditional feria drink. The drink is called "rebujito" and is made of sherry-like white wine mixed with 7-up. There are no rules to feria, or age limits. Everyone drinks, and everyone dances. To the Spanish it is like Vegas, what happens at feria stays at feria...no shame. I don't know how they do it ,but they drink the rebujito out of dixie cups and after 3 or 4, they are slap happy drunk....and I thought I was a light-weight. On the nights I went with Americans, it was easy to convince people to let us into their casetas by saying we were American tourists and wanted to experience the real feria. I even learned a few steps of the Sevillana along the week! Truely, though they really know how to party and celebrate their culture. Never before in my life have I experienced such a wide-spread physical manifestation of culture. It was beautiful! Also during every day of feria there is bull-fight, usually with a prominent fighter.
So, since my trip to Italy was cancelled, thanks to the Volcano, I spend Monday-Thursday at feria, and blended in as a Sevillana by not going home before 5 am any day! I went a few times with Spanish friends and others with Americans. I don't know how they do it, but you can see people of every age at feria, still at 5,6, or 7 am! One spectacle I saw that particularily struck me was when I was waiting in line for a taxi. There was a live band in one caseta, and honestly, every single person that walked by, couldn't help themselves but to dance a little. I watched for about 10 mins, and it was amazing, man,woman, child, old, young....they are did a few steps of their sevillana(the dance) passing by...it was surreal. Needless to say all the dancing and walking, and drinking, and eating , and talking, and celebrating...I spent the rest of the week at home, sick. By Sunday I was up and ready to go for one more dose of straight Spanish culture. I went to my first bull-fight! Sevilla is one of the best known cities for bull-fighting as it originated in Andalucia. The bull-ring here was built beginning in 1749, that is older that our U.S.A! The bull-fight, although, grusome, is something truley artistic and very astounding to see. Each matador, there are 3, kill 2 bulls each. First the bulls are tempted by the young matadors, then by horses, and finally killed by the head matador. I won't get into too many gross details, but a lot of stabbing goes on. I did get to see two bulls that were especially tough, one they even had to take out of the ring for a bit to repair some damage, and get him riled up to play/fight. The manner of maneuvering the bull back out of the ring, alive (usually they only take them out after they have killed them) is by sending in 6 white bulls to try and lure him to them and back out of the ring. I have to say, watching the bulls come out and just start chasing the matadors, I couldn't help but think of them as testosterone-jacked teenage boys. Wanting a fight, no matter what, win or lose, just want to fight and get super physical. Needless to say, this definitely added to my culture-heavy week. The feria ends on Sunday night at midnight with some fireworks, Iwent to one of the bridges over the Guadalquivir River and watched with some Spanish friends.After this amazing week, I think I can begin to understand how each Sevillano/a that I have met has an enormous amount of pride for thier land and thier culture. They all grow up celebrating it, learning it, living it. Unfortunately this is something I think we are missing out on at home. I met a girl this week that said her parents went to Paris and Italy for a trip, saw all the big sights, and came home and said, "it was nice, but it wasn't my Giralda." (The Giralda is the tower to the Cathedral of Sevilla, originally built by moors.) This epitomizes the sentiment and pride of nearly all the Sevillanos that I have spoken with, I think it is a wonderfully strong, and beautiful attribute.
I can't say I regret not getting to Cinque Terre, Italy, because I had such a rich week here in Sevilla.
On another note, I don't want to talk about...things are getting busy in classes/ winding down, which I realized I never mentioned. I am in four business classes, all taught in Spanish: International Services Management, International Corporate Finance, International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, and European Economics. These next few weeks will be sweet, and busy, but I'll be sure to soak up every last minute and fill it with more and more memories!