Sevilla is a city in the region of Andalucia in the south of Spain. It is a beautiful place. In the summer, the temperature is very hot and for that reason the city is nicknamed el horno, meaning 'the oven.'
The river Gualdaquivir runs through the city. The tomb of Christopher Columbus can be found inside the cathedral. The cathedral has a famous bell tower called la Giralda.
It is here in this city that an important festival called la Feria de Abril takes place every year in spring. Its name means 'the April fair' and it lasts for one week, commencing on the Monday two weeks after Easter Day.
At the festival, people sing and dance sevillanas. This is a form of Flamenco music that belongs to the city of Sevilla.
At la Feria many people wear traditional Flamenco dress.
The festival began as a cattle market in 1847 with tents erected for the selling of the animals.
Nowadays, the tents are striped in bright colours and inside there is music and dancing.
The tents are called casetas (little houses). Most of the casetas are erected in an area of the festival known as El Real de la Feria, and there are around one thousand of them.
Every year, there is a gateway erected to enter la Feria. The gateway iscalled la Portada. Below are images of past gateways.
The gateway is always covered in electric light bulbs so that it is lit up at night time. The opening ceremony, when all the festival lights are officially switched on, is called el Alumbrado.
There is a fairground known as la Calle del Infierno, meaning - 'the street of hell'. There are horse parades, bullfights, dancing and music, and general merry-making!
At the end of the week's festivities, there are fireworks. The way to say 'fireworks' in Spanish is los fuegos artificiales.
An interesting fact: the motto of the city of Seville is a 'secret code'. It is: NO8DO and it dates back to the 13th Century. It was created in gratitude by Spanish King Alfonso X after the loyal people of the city of Seville supported him in his decision not to make his son heir to the throne.
The number 8 in the middle of the code represents the shape of a skein of wool. In Spanish, this wool shape is called una madeja. When the words of the motto are all placed together you have:- NO + MADEJA + DO. This sounds like the words: No me ha dejado, meaning - 'He / She / It has not left me.' That is to say, the city of Sevilla is loyal and does not abandon her people.
The motto is like 13th. century mobile phone text language! Cu l8r!
The entrance to the April Fair in 2010 was in the shape of NO8DO as seen in the picture below.
