Las ferias in Spain!?

Question

Does anyone know if it is just in Andalucía where they have ferias? And, la Danza de los zancos de Anguiano - is this just in La Rioja?? And, finally... La Tomatina... is that just in Valencia?? Thanks

Answer 1

A feria is a fair.  There are ferias in almost every town in Spain.  (large and small).

You've heard of the "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona?  Well, that's a feria.  The Feria of San Fermín, to be exact.  And Pamplona is on the French border near the Atlantic.  Hardly Andalucía.  

La Tomatina isn't even IN Valencia, it's in a small town (maybe in the province of Valencia, but not the city).  And I'm pretty sure it's only in the one town.  

I'd be willing to bet  (not knowing for sure) that the dance you mention is the folk dance of the region of Rioja.  Every province has their own regional folk dance.  In Seville, they are called the Sevillanas, in Málaga, a Malagueña, in Pamplona, la Jota, etc.  so, the Zancos de Anguiano?  Most likely the folk dance of La Rioja.

And all I know of the día de Andalucía is that it celebrates the day that the constitution gave Andalucía Autonomy (1981), and they all take the day off (big surprise! :) )

Let me see what I can find on the other stuff.

Re: the Anguianos:

http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/...

Click the link at the bottom of the page for more fiestas.

La Tomatina:  (in Buñol, Province, Valencia):

http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/...

Of course, since this is your project, YOU should be doing this research!  Next time, you get to do your OWN searches.

Answer 2

Los Danzadores de Zancos of Anguiano are typical to just that one small town in Logroño, (La Rioja). The dancers go out on the feast day of la Magdalena in July. and on three other days during the year.

La Tomatina is native only to Bunyol, Valencia.Celebrated on the 30th. of august. It was first held, by accident in 1945, starting as a fight by a group of young people in the town during the celebration of the local holiday. It is the biggest waste of food that exists in Spain, considering the amount of people starving in this world of ours, watching about 30,000 people throwing 100 tons of tomatoes at each other may be great fun, but it is rather gross and a definite waste.

Ferias are held in most towns, cities and villages in Spain, all over the country not just in Andalucía, although the most well known Ferias are the  "Feria de Abril" in Seville, and the Feria de la Virgen de Agosto in Málaga.

Oddly enough there is also an alternative Feria de Abril held in Barcelona...by the descendants of andalusian families that migrated north to find work.

Ferias usually are held around the festivity of the patron saint of each town.  There are, for example, many Ferias de San Juan held on the week of june 24th. (summer solstice) and also Ferias de San Miguel at the end of September.

And the Feria de San Fermín in Pamplona in July with its famous running of the bulls.

Some other large Ferias are the Semana Grande in San Sebastián in August.

Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos in several cities (Alicante being one of the main ones)

Las Fallas in Valencia (the week of the feast day of Saint Joseph  march 19th.)

Feria de San Isidro in May held in Madrid

La Batalla del Vino in Haro (La Rioja) in June (similar to La Tomatina, but with wine instead of tomatoes)

Fiestas del Pilar in Zaragoza held the week of October 12th.

La Semana Cervantina in Alcalá de Henares also in October.

Los Carnavales celebrated just before lent in Cádiz, Málaga, Huelva and the Canary Islands (among other places)

Then you also  have the "Romerías"...and many other festivities that only last one day...

There are many more, but I do not know them all!

Hope this is enough info for you!

:-)

Almost forgot:

Dia de Andalucía...

This is a regional holiday held all over Andalucía on Feb. 28th. There are many festivities organised in different places. Each town organising its own, with anything from sports activities to ferias.The largest celebration being a music festival transmitted on the andalusian television channel (Canal Sur). Being a  holiday all offices and most comercial premises are closed for the day.

If you need more details on anything you could check out Wikipedia in its spanish version... It is quite complete!