The city of Sevilla boasts two of the largest festive celebrations in the whole province – Semana Santa and La Feria de Sevilla.
This Andalucian city is world-renowned for the solemn but beautiful processions during Holy Week and the colorful and lively fair held two weeks after. The Easter Week is truly spectacular with extraordinary processions of masked penitents and carnival-style floats. People travel from across the country and around the world to witness this annual week-long event.
There is also the April Fair, which is possibly the largest annual fair in Andalucia. This is a week-long party of drink, food, fino (link sherry) and flamenco. Here, families, organizations, and businesses set up casetas, marquees, in which they spend the week dancing, drinking, and socializing.
Traditionally, men dress in their best suits and women wear elaborate flamenco dresses. They set up the marquees on a permanent fairground in which every street is named after a famous bullfighter.
Other celebrations taking place in Sevilla include the Rocío pilgrimage, with the “Lunes de Rocío” a traditional holiday (estimated to fall on June 1 in 2009 and May 24 in 2010). Corpus Christi is also observed in the city and the patron saint day, the “Vírgen de los Reyes”, falls on August 15th.
There are approximately 14 official public holidays in Spain, which can be acknowledged on either a national or local basis. Listed below are those dates observed in Sevilla:
January 1 – Año Nuevo / New Year’s Day
January 5 – Epifanía / Epiphany
March 19 – Dia de San José / St. Joseph’s Day
Late March or early April – Jueves Santo / Maundy Thursday
Late March or early April – Viernes Santo / Good Friday
May 1 – Fiesta del Trabajo / Labour Day
August 15 – La Asunción / Feast of the Assumption
October 12 – Nacional de España / National Day
November 1 – Todos los Santos / All Saints’ Day
December 6 – Dia de la Constitución / Constitution Day
December 8 – La Inmaculada Concepción / Feast of the Immaculate Conception
December 25 – Navidad / Christmas Day
Related Pages on Simply Sevilla
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