Rota Feria

Every year the Spanish in Andalucia Province hold a festival called Feria. It is about 5 days long and I would equate it to a high class county fair. The women dress in beautiful and ornate ruffly dresses with big, obnoxious jewerly and flowers in their hair. Polka dots are usually the theme but some women have branched out from the dots. The more expensive the dress, the better. And the tradition is that a different dress is worn every day. Many women simply can not afford that so they opt to wear the same one everyday. They spend, on average, about 300-500 Euros per dress every year so you can see what a big deal this is to them. It is the place to be for 5 days. The Spanish go all day and stay well into the early morning hours, kids included!! Lots of drinking, eating and dancing in the tents erected for the event. There are also carriage rides in old carriages with horses adorned with flowers. It is a beautiful site!

A friend here and I decided to hit the Antique Market in Jerez to see if there were any feria dresses for cheap. I found one for 6 Euros! Got the jewelry and flower for my hair for a total of 10 Euros! Can't beat those prices. Now I know my dress was probably the style from 10 years ago and it it was a little roomy on me but I still fit in. I couldn't find one for O so I just bought her a polka dot dress from the Exchange instead.
Below are some pics from Rota Feria.


Megan and I in our feria dresses. Pay particular attention to the women's dresses in the background to understand how much they get into this.


Ready to drink and do some flamenco dancing...


O watching the Spanish men and women dancing on the stage.



Time for a snack! O and her friend Helena dressed for feria, flowers in hair and all.


Who doesn't love kisses and hugs! We should all take time out and do it more!