Ronda Ferias

An interesting thing happened in Ronda yesterday, coincidentally while I was walking around the main cathedral and Alcazar in Sevilla. OK, walking around the Alcazar isn't much of a coincidence since it's not related to Easter, but the cathedral is.

If you aren't thoroughly confused then I should be scared, I just realized that paragraph makes no sense at all, but hey, sometimes I enjoy testing you guys.

Well, what happened in Ronda is that the official poster to promote Semana Santa (Holy Week) 2009 was unveiled. This year's winning pick breaks with tradition in showing a photo of Mary, but without her halo, and is already courting controversy in Ronda.
Interestingly, the poster also features one of Ronda's main churches, the Iglesia de la Merced which is home to the holy relic hand of St Teresa. Also shown is a full moon which will be visible on Good Friday 2009.

The thing is that Easter in Spain is very much the preserve of the Catholic church and it's various brotherhoods, and Mary is NEVER shown looking anything less than angelic.

What they tend to do is take a photograph of one of the statues that get carried around Ronda in the Easter parades, and all of the statues have a halo, but the winner of this year's design photographed one of the statues with Mary looking down demurely, and placed a covering over the top of her head.

Personally I think Mary looks more virginal than in the other poses where she can look a bit superior, probably what the church wanted, given how important Mary is to Catholics, so it will be interesting to see if any of these posters get defaced once they go up around town.

If you'd like to see what the new poster looks like, have a quickly look at the report in La Voz de Ronda.

Ferias in Spain are a great excuse to get dressed up Flamenco style, as you can see with this couple during Ronda's Feria last week. The ladies all wear long dresses like these and the colors are amazing. I thought I'd share this picture though because of the couple in matching outfits, and when I asked for a photo the faces beamed with smiles so wide I thought I'd just made their day.

This particular photo was taken just before the final parade through town by the matadores on their way to the bullring. Sadly the crowds on the side of the street were so tightly packed that I didn't get very many photos this year, but now I know what to expect I can assure that next year I'll be well prepared.

Its Feria season in Andalucia and if you've ever been here or watched a documentary on TV about it, you'll know this is the time of year when people party all night, and then do it all over again the following night, some of the Ferias actually go a whole week.

Like this one in Jerez de la Frontera, a city located a little over an hour from Ronda, on the road between Cadiz and Sevilla. Jerez is a reasonable sized city, one of the larger cities in Andalucia so they get one of the most impressive Ferias which is more than just a party.

The partying lasts for a week, I'm not kidding, but there is a difference, the Gonzalez Hontoria Park gets a real treat in the form of a couple hundred horses and carriages parading around the showground streets and is one of the most important equestrian events in Andalucia.

Its perfectly safe, the carriages are the only traffic allowed on these streets and they generally walk fairly slowly so its quite safe for pedestrians as well, and I think all the local horse breeders, gypsies, and landed gentry bring out their finest carriages and best groomed horses.

I'm sure we've all seen these in fairy tale movies, and no doubt many of the ladies who read my blog will be enchanted by the magic of it, and believe me, it really is a magical experience seeing a couple of hundred carriages circling the main plaza while the horses occasionally treat you to some fancy footwork.

But if you're looking for something a bit flamenco, wait till you see the ladies, mmm, just beautiful, its amazing what a full length flamenco dress does to a lady. Most tend to wear heels as well, accentuating the length of their legs, but of course making it very difficult for them to walk at anything more than snail's pace.

The day we went was ladies day, the other half went absolutely nuts at the beautiful dresses, and of course many of the ladies were more than happy to do a little dance or flutter their eyelids at the tourists. All in all it was a fantastic day.

The Jerez feria was our first traditional Spanish Feria, but having seen it once, I think it might have to become an annual event for as long as we live in Spain. Next weekend we'll get to see the Ronda Feria, and whilst its a bit smaller, we've been promised its well worth the visit.