Feria de Jerez

Horse riding.

Feria de Jerez, also known as Feria del Caballo (Horse Fair) is one of the most important celebrations in the Spanish municipality Jerez de la Frontera, only comparable to Easter religious celebrations. It is the most important fair in (Cádiz) and has been declared as international interest celebration by Spanish Secretariat for Tourism and Commerce, that belongs to Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce.[1]

History

Upper view of games zone in Feria 2009 from the noria.

Its origins are in the medieval ages, during one week farmers gathered to sell and buy animals, in Jerez mainly horses, usually drinking sherry to celebrate the deals.

Celebration

Nowadays it is celebrated in Parque González Hontoria (Jerez). It is always celebrated in May, one week after Feria de Abril, of Sevilla and before El Rocío.

Feria at night.

The Feria is divided in two parts: one is a kind of small village, with streets that have bars and restaurants at both sides (these restaurants are called Casetas). The other is a Theme Park/carnival style area where kids and grown ups can have fun on different rides such as roller coasters, bumper cars etc...

At the Feria de Jerez all the casetas are public, so anyone can just walk into any one and enjoy the food, drinks, and dancing. This is one of the main features that differentiates it from the Seville Fair as most of the "casetas" there are private and therefore only card holding members are allowed in.

In the casetas, throughout the day and night, people will usually be found drinking fino sherry, and in more recent years a new trend is to mix the fino with lemonade and ice cubes creating a cocktail commonly known as Rebujito.

At night time there is a sort of "roof" of pretty decorative lights lighting this little "village" like area, which allows the party to last all the way till dawn.

Dates

References

  1. ↑ Town Corporation official site commenting on Feria (in Spanish)
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