Feria food- 'Calamares fritos con ali-oli Andaluz'- Fried squid with Andalusian garlic mayonnaise. |
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Seville Feria Dates
What are the Seville Feria dates each year?
The Seville Fair traditionally begins two clear weeks after Semana Santa, in a huge recinto ferial (fairground) in Los Remedios, south-west of the city, next to the river.
Seville’s fair is officially known as the April Fair, but in fact, it isn’t always celebrated entirely in April, and sometimes even takes place in May.
Holy Week or Semana Santa refers to Easter Week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Semana Santa / Easter week dates are detailed here for the next five years.
The dates are written each year on this page Seville Feria Dates
The traditional cena de pescaito (fried fish dinner) takes place on the evening of Monday followed by the alumbrao - the official turning on of the lights at midnight.
Dates for Feria 2025 controversy: April or May? Tuesday to Sunday, or Saturday to Saturday?
The dates for the 2025 Seville Feria caused controversy for two reasons.
Firstly, Easter took place unusually late in 2025 (13-20 April), so Feria would logically have started on Saturday 3 May (in the relatively short-lived Saturday-to-Saturday plan, see below). Therefore not even the first day of the Fair would have fallen in April - the event is known as the Feria de Abril, and should in theory take place in April.
According to the city's statutes, "if the entire Feria falls in May, it will be brought forward by a week, starting on the Sunday after Semana Santa". However in previous years with a late Easter, this has not happened and the Feria has indeed taken place in May.
Secondly, there was the issue of returning to the shorter traditional format (Tuesday to Sunday), as opposed to Saturday to Saturday, the longer format which was voted for by 60% of Sevillanos back in 2016.
A re-run of the referendum for the 2025 edition, held in April 2024, resulted in a 52/48 vote in favour of returning to the traditional format. A vote at a City Council meeting on 16 January 2025 in favour of confirming this decision was won by the ruling Partido Popular. The leader of the centre-left PSOE has promised to reinstate the longer version of the fair if re-elected in 2028.
The dates are written each year on this page Seville Feria Dates
