Three Spanish Festivals

If you choose to sidestep charging bulls and avoid tomato-based food fights during your time in Spain, all is not lost. While you do run the risk of overeating and the occasional wayward firecracker, these three unique annual festivals will add to your experience: Las Fallas in Valencia, Feria de Abril in Seville and Feria de Jamón in Aracena.

Festival de las Fallas

While studying abroad, I had a Culture & Civ professor who would devote the first few minutes of each class to telling us about the wonders that Spain has to offer, and encouraging us to take advantage of the many festivals. It was at his urging that I skipped class one Thursday in mid-March and headed for Valencia, home of Las Fallas.

So what’s a falla? It’s a float; carved in exquisite detail and painted in bright colors and made of flammable materials. The smallest falla is no larger than a swing set, and the largest can dwarf a four-story apartment building. They are satirical: poking fun at pop culture, most commonly something from cinema or politics. Each year various community groups and organizations work hard to design a falla and during the designated week in mid-March, they assemble their work in plazas all over Spain’s third largest city. The floats are judged in their respective categories based on size and theme and when night falls, you can see people stringing fireworks all over the finished product, regardless of the awards.

And then they light a match.

We watched one fire from start to finish and almost lost our eyebrows as a result. Firemen hosed down tarps thrown over nearby buildings while people scuttled around the float with what could only be containers of gasoline. The crowd surged forward to see some lucky fellow light the fuse, and our front row spots soon became too close for comfort. When the first explosion went off, the crowd fell back and we stumbled away wishing for the handkerchiefs we’d seen covering so many people’s faces. The pyrotechnics went on until the wee hours of the morning and sparked a lively conversation in our next Culture & Civ class.

Feria de Abril

"Soy muy feriante" is a colloquial way of saying, "I love this fair." Like flowers heralding the springtime, women flood the streets of Seville in vividly colorful gowns, ruffles swishing and hips swaying. A section of the city is closed down and a miniature town is constructed, with a giant gate to lead the way to the phenomenon that is the April Fair.

Feria is so visually stimulating, it's almost overwhelming. The streets are a riot of color - dresses, horses, carriages, balloons, toys. In the middle of the afternoon it is not uncommon to see a group of friends on horseback, pulled up to a local bar. Or my personal favorite: a flamenco driveby on a moto – polkadots flashing in the wind. Even the horses are dressed to the nines: tails and manes braided or curled, wearing a variety of decorative bridles and ribbons. Various fair-goers ride in carros or horse-drawn carriages that have their own footmen and drivers. Women ride sidesaddle with their heads held high and flowers on top of their heads - you half expect them to burst into song. And they will! The fair is famous for it’s songs and dances, praising Seville and the south. You can see locals of all ages twirling, shouting and strumming to sevillanas, a provocative dance with roots in flamenco.

The Sevillanos' dedication to this event is like nothing I've ever seen. Leave the house at 9 p.m., come home at 4 a.m., lay down for 2 hours, shower, go to work, leave at 3 p.m., go home, get dressed, go out again. It is a vicious cycle fueled by fine wine and fiesta DNA. It’s important to note that this festival has a strong private party aspect to it, and although some tents are closed to the public you can still have a good time.

Feria de Jamón

In the southernmost region of Spain known as Andalucia, it is all about the jamón. If ham makes you think of Easter, you should probably readjust your radar. The ham haunch (hoof and all) serves as a prominent fixture in Spanish kitchens, bars and restaurants. It hangs in windows, doors, and kitchens or sits on the bar right next to you (we once saw a waiter give the leg an affectionate pat on the hoof). This prized pork is for a midday snack, a gala event, late night tapas or an early morning tostada. It also comes in approximately sixty-two different varieties, all of which I’m still not sure of. But be advised – no matter how you slice it, it’s good.

By using your expert language skills, you’ve probably deduced what this particular fiesta is all about, and you’re right. A brilliant October day in the mountain town of Aracena (90 km from Seville) showcases ham in the best way possible: an outdoor, all-day food festival. Olé. I should add that by the time the bus pulled up in this tiny, whitewashed town of 7,000, we had already nicknamed this sacred showcase: Ham Fest.

Fellow expats who had braved the fest in previous years sat us down under a big white tent, collected 10 euros from 15 people and proceeded to make my day. We bought (and wrestled with) a ham leg, complete with jabonera – the contraption that holds the haunch steady while you (or the 2008 ham-slicing champion) take a knife to it. Closely followed by cheese, various sausages, bread warm from the oven and innumerable bottles of wine, this turned out to be a very good day.

The south is famous for ferias of all different varieties celebrating everything from tapas to wine to pork. It is a memorable way to see a small town and get a glimpse of the local culture.

For more info:

-          Fallas: http://www.fallasfromvalencia.com/

-          Feria: http://www.turismosevilla.org

-          Feria de Jamón: http://www.aracena.es/index.php

Kelly Holland recently returned to the US after a year working abroad in Seville, Spain as an English teacher for the Ministry of Education.  She writes about her travel experiences and tips learned along the way at http://thisblonde.wordpress.com.