Feria!
The annual spring fair in Jerez de la Frontera—the Feria del Caballo, or “Horse Fair”—traces its roots back to the thirteenth century, when ranchers from across the region would bring livestock to town for a weeklong agricultural market. By night, business concluded, the air would turn festive. Today what’s left of the horse dealing happens behind the scenes, among well-to-do sherry barons and international jet-setters, while out on the fairgrounds the rest of the town carries on the tradition of springtime celebration.
Preparations for feria begin months in advance, with the assembling of a hundred some-odd casetas—pavilions sponsored by local businesses and religious brotherhoods. Although they are only operational during fair week, casetas are fairly sophisticated affairs, outfitted with bathrooms, restaurant-grade kitchens, wooden floors, and overhead fans. Most are big enough to accommodate a dining area, a bar, a concealed f-and-b staging area, a platform for musicians, and, crucially, a dance floor. Given the many weeks it takes to assemble and then disassemble the casetas, one wonders why they aren’t just left standing throughout the year. But feria is not an exercise in practicality. If it is an exercise in anything, it is an exercise in ritual, and preparations would seem as important as the occasion itself. A woman may spend months putting together her feria outfit, to then wear it only during fair week. Shops which trade exclusively in feria dresses and accessories do business all year long.
(Historically, the vestido de gitana, or “gypsy dress”, was a work outfit used by field hands—the ruffles were cooler and permitted a wider range of movement than other dress styles. At some point high society adopted the look for feria, and the dress began to evolve. Today, annual runway shows precede each fair season, showcasing contemporary variations on the traditional theme. The cut of the dress, and the pride with which it is worn, tends to flatter any and every female form. The vestido de gitana is at once dignified and sexy, elegante and caliente, just revealing enough to get the blood beating, not so revealing as to cause a scandal.)
In essence feria is a vibrant week-long fête of eating and drinking, dancing and promenading. Women stroll about the grounds in the elaborate gitana dresses, roses perched in stylishly coiffed hair, fans a-flutter like butterfly wings. Men are elegant in linen suits, carnations blooming from their lapels, sherry glasses held at a cavalier cant between thumb and forefinger. Handsome caparisoned horses are all about—manes and tails braided, tack festooned with bells and flowers, they draw carriages, bear riders in traditional dress. Flamenco springs from the casetas, where merrymakers of all ages, from toddlers on up to seniors, dance the traditional sevillanas dance. To eat, there is fried calamari, grilled shrimp, and jamón, and to drink there is the rebujito, a chilled blend of dry sherry, 7-Up, and mint leaves that goes down easy on a hot afternoon.
While it is possible to feel transported to another time during feria, there is plenty to call you back to this one, too. An adjacent fairground features carnival rides and cotton candy, and in some casetas you’ll find reggaetón and twerking rather than flamenco and sevillanas. Somehow, though, it all coexists—an exuberant, varicolored medley of the traditional and the contemporary that, for one much-anticipated week a year, is the very definition of alegría.
Joy.
Until next time,
Charlie
Raised in Charleston, SC, Charlie Geer currently lives in Andalusia, Spain. His work has appeared in various journals and magazines, including the Threepenny Review, The Sun Magazine, Tin House, the Southern Review, Garden and Gun, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. His novel Outbound: The Curious Secession of Latter-Day Charleston was published by River City Publishing in 2005, and his collection of essays in Spanish, ¿Qué Dices, Teacher?, was published by Plan B in 2020. Follow him online at @amerizano and at charliegeer.substack.com.