Cádiz
Carnaval
Cádiz city’s popular, indeed infamous, fiesta
is celebrated in the days around Ash Wednesday, and is
a tradition that dates from the middle of the 19th century.
The one key distinguishing factor of Carnaval
in Cádiz is, apart
from the Concurso de Agrupaciones, the improvised street
theatre staged by groups of local wags and satirists,
the gusto with which everyone throws themselves into the
celebrations.  The
starting shot, metaphorically at least, is fired just before
the official start of Carnaval. Around
a month before the festivities, the various groups of the
Agrupaciones who will participate in the official event
at the city’s Mudéjar-style Teatro
Falla stage
their own rehearsals. The great community banquets, organised
by local carnival clubs, are an excellent way of getting
to know Cádiz, the gaditanos themselves, and the
essence of the carnival itself.
During the officially set days of Carnaval, el disfraz
es el rey – disguise is king. Whether solo, as a
couple or in groups, fancy dress is virtually obligatory,
particularly all day on the first Saturday of Carnaval.
The culmination of the fancy dress celebrations, which
also sees the climax of the good-natured humour on the
streets, involves three distinct groups: familiares, or
families, the ‘charangas’ (racket or hullaballoo)
who perform musical skits, or ‘ilegales’ (‘the
illegals’), groups of friends or family, whose intention
is to ‘brotar la risa’, raise a smile (or more
risque forms of same), from anyone who hears their sometimes
ribald or pointedly satirical squibs aimed at local figures
such as politicians.
On the Sunday and Monday attention focuses on the Carrusel
de Coros, carousel of choirs, around the central plaza.
Thousands gather to hear each of the choirs in the Carnaval
choral competition performing their vocal repertory. Sunday
also sees the unmissable grand Cabalgata, cavalcade, in
which, over a period lasting hours, a long colourful parade
of participants in fancy dress aboard elaborately decorated
floats passes through the throng of revellers amid song,
dance, sketches and a veritable blizzard of sweets and
party favours hurled from the floats. In global terms,
Cádiz’s carnival has to be on a par with Rio,
Venice, New Orleans and London’s Notting Hill.
Semana Santa, Easter (Cádiz)
Spain’s great religious festival begins on Palm
Sunday and finishes a week later on Resurrection Sunday.
The week long religious observations commemorate
the Passion of Christ, reflected here by the processions
of the hermandades, brotherhoods, of penitencia, penitence.
The cofradías,
or local religious fraternities, comprised of nazarenos
(the hooded penitents) accompany the sacred images of neighbourhood
saints with the nazarenos clothed in coloured tunics and
masks, the latter in fact intended as a symbol of humility.
Normally the processions are in two parts, in the first
carrying an image, usually a lifesized tableau, of the
passion and death of Christ; the second carrying a representation
of the Virgin, and these are often notable for the Virgin’s
tearful visage, representing both suffering but also hope.
Some of the hermandades march in respectful silence; others
are accompanied by (usually junior) musical ensembles.
It is also tradition, on the frequent stops in the procession,
signed by a tolling bell (and as much it seems to give
the sometimes dozens toiling beneath the bier carrying
the sacred image a breather), that saetas, sad religious
songs in a flamenco style, are also sung as the procession
pauses.
Chiclana
The
feria in honour of San Antonio (first or second week of
June) is a major celebration for the citizens of towns
around the Bahia Gaditano (Cádiz Bay, and beyond)
where casetas, large tented halls, are erected on the fair
grounds on the outskirts of each locale and where visitors
and guests (some are member only) can enjoy great local
food and dance the famous sevillana (the key flamenco dance)
and the rumba. Outstanding for their food and their appetite
for partying with style are the casetas of La Teja and
Extremadura. If you’re looking for a younger crowd
to party with, don’t miss either La Pepa or the Copera
casetas. But be warned: festivities often continue well
past the time you would normally be sitting down to breakfast.
Arcos de la Frontera Semana Santa, Easter - Arcos de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera Visitors
to Jerez should not miss the impressive month of May celebrations
with the Feria del Caballo (horses) and the nearby Campeonato
de Motociclismo (world motorcycling championships), like
the Semana Santa in Jerez, with all of its symbolism and
the profound influence of the multi-faceted culture of
the sevillana.
Rota
The Cádiz Bay port’s annual Fería
de la Urta (the striped sea bass in all its culinary glories)
is celebrated in August, and apart from the constant revelry
played out at the height of summer, is the perfect opportunity
to try a dish of the fantastic local speciality, Urta a
la Roteña - ‘urta Rota-style’ being
striped sea bass cooked with tomato, onion, peppers, potatoes
and olive oil.
Sanlúcar
 Las
Carreras de Caballos, horse races, held over two separate
August weeks on the beaches of Sanlúcar de Barrameda
at the mouth of the río Guadalquivir, the ancient
Roman Betis, are the oldest national Turf events in Spain
and have been held annually since 1845. ‘Turf’ doesn’t
perhaps do them justice: perhaps uniquely, they are unusual
in being horse races held on tidal sands, with some of
the spectators, and even betting touts, standing with sea
water lapping at their ankles or higher. The celebrations
around these races in Sanlúcar and its remarkable
setting in the protected Parque Nacional de Doñana
wetlands, with its vast beaches, its delta marshlands,
and every type of gastronomic treat imaginable, are a rare
combination that simply has to be sampled, whatever time
of the year.
And now that you know, Sanlúcar and its Carrera
de Caballos look forward to welcoming you.
More
information
Villamartín
The Feria of Livestock (or farming same) which is celebrated
in September has been an annual event since time immemorial
and is the setting for a fantastic festival ripe with the
flavour of the hill town of Villamartin.
|
About
Conil
