Alumbrado

Today, the Feria officially started!  The opening ceremony is called the "Alumbrado" - essentially, it is when they light the entry arch and all lights in the fairgrounds for the first time at midnight. The tradition here is that people eat fish (mostly fried fish) the night of the alumbrado...but I'm honestly not sure when or why that tradition started. Anyway, the photo above is of this year's portada (entrance arch). They design and build a new/different portada every year, which I think is astounding. The arch this year is modeled after the symbol of Sevilla -"no8do"- and it also commemorates the centennial of the 1st military flight from Sevilla. There are something like 22,000 lightbulbs on the portada - it's beautiful, I think. I live a block from the Feria fairgrounds, so I was able to watch them assemble the portada, as well as the rest of the Feria, which was a neat process.  They started to work on the Feria in January, and everyday for 4 months, there were large crews of men at work. It was amazing to watch what is essentially a square-mile dirt lot turn into a beautifully decorated miniature city. That just goes to show how important the Feria is to the city of Sevilla!

 

A close-up view of the portada.

A view of the airplane.

With Annie and Maggie.

A typical caseta...it's hard to believe that this is a temporary tent, huh?!