Andalucía's Fairs, Festivals and Fiestas 2009

Plan your trip to coincide with fabulous festivals, fairs and fiestas

throughout the year. Here is just a sampling:

XIII Festival de Jerez / 13th Festival of Jerez (Feb 27-Mar 14) Showcasing stellar flamenco (including certain artists featured in the New York Flamenco Festival), as well as the city's treasured Andalusian horses and its famed wine cellars (bodegas) that produce sherry (jerez). www.festivaldejerez.es

Carnaval de Cádiz / Carnival of Cádiz (Jan 19-Feb 1) Festivities, extraordinary costumes, processions, and ebullient street fairs in this Atlantic seaport city, the oldest in Western Europe. www.carnavaldecadiz.com

Semana Santa / Holy Week (Apr 5-12) Opulent and dramatic processions everywhere.

Feria de Sevilla / Seville’s April Fair (Apr 28 - May 3) Andalucía's capital city is festooned with flowers and regalia. Women in traditional flounced dresses and men in classsic riding habit parade on horseback and in horse-drawn carriages. Hundreds of casetas (private fiesta pavilions, most by invitation) compete for best decoration, food, wines, and flamenco singing, guitar and dancing.

Festival de los Patios Cordobeses / Córdoba Patio Festival (May 6-17) In the old-quarter’s labyrinth of narrow streets and whitewashed houses, homeowners proudly compete for the most beautifully decorated patio.

Romería del Rocío / Rocío Pilgrimage (May 27- June 1) Since the 15th century, brotherhoods exalting their patron saint, La Virgen del Rocío travel on horseback and on foot through Doñana National Park and biosphere reserve (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), singing and dancing flamenco along the way. They converge at the shrine of Rocío in the town of Almonte (Province of Huelva) for festivities and processions. Rocío (“morning dew”) is also a favored name of Andalusian women and pervades in flamenco lyrics.

Feria del Caballo de Jerez / Jerez Horse Fair (May 10-17) Hundreds of hosted casetas outshine each other in décor, theme, cuisine and, of course, flamenco music and dance. Spectacular parades on horseback, and competitions in dressage, classic carriage driving, roping and doma vaquero (country dressage). Galas at the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre (Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art) with exquisite intricate four-legged choreography to classical Spanish music that resonates flamenco rhythms. www.realescuela.org

Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada / Granada International Festival of Music and Dance (Jun 26-Jul 14) Among the most prestigious of Europe, this annual performing arts festival once featured a historic cante jondo contest organized in 1922 by granadinos Manuel de Falla and Federico García Lorca. www.granadafestival.org

Festival de la Guitarra de Córdoba / Córdoba Guitar Festival (Jul 1-11) The world’s great virtuosos convene to perform and teach all genre: flamenco, classical, jazz, and modern. Courses and seminars on guitar virtuosity, composition, construction and history. www.guitarracordoba.com

Previewing 2010:

XVI Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla 2010 Held every two years, in the even year. Seville's 16th biennial 2010, starting mid- September, will offer three weeks of supreme flamenco artistry with several events daily, ranging from ad libitum fiesta-style juergas to sophisticated theater performances featuring the great masters as well as the newest talents. www.bienal-flamenco.org