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ONLY BE SEVILLIAN
Only-Be Sevillian
Seville April Fair
This spring, the traditional Seville´s April Fair will be held from 3-8 May in the popular district of Los Remedios, where it has been held since 1973. It is an area of ??a kilometer and a half long and half a kilometer wide, where the streets are decorated with lanterns, where you can see horses, horsemen and carriages, people singing and dancing day and night showing off their gorgeous sevillanas and popular flamenco dresses. The beginnings of the April Fair date back to August 25, 1846, when Mr. José María de Ybarra (Basque) and Narciso Bonaplata (Catalan) drafted a proposal which they led to the City Council, where they asked to be authorized to organize an annual fair on days 19th, 20th and 21st of April. They were granted permission after several meetings and negotiations with the mayor. In March 1847, Queen Elizabeth II granted Sevilla the privilege of fair, and the following April the 3-day fair was held for the first time. The first livestock fair was at the Prado de San Sebastian and was very successful. It consisted only of 19 stands, that mixed farming and fun. It was from 1920 when the fair started to be more similar to what’s now, which is currently visited by many foreigners, onlookers, partiers and mostly artists and celebrities that give it an air of glamour. The main gate to the show is very characteristic, which stands at the fair since 1949. This gate is hand-made decorated is dedicated each year to some event or important monument of the city: the Torre del Oro, the Giralda of Seville, the centenary...
How can I know if I love my partner or not?
The story of the donkey. A king wants his donkey to talk, then a rabbi comes, he’s an old man, and he tells the king: “I can make your ass talk in five years, but give me so many millions” and the king said: “I give you this money but If the donkey does not speak after these five years cut your head off!” The king left and then the rabbi’s friends said: “but you´re crazy!?, donkey’s never going to speak”, and the rabbi answered them: “You don’t know anything, in five years the donkey will talk or I may die or the king may die, but let´s try”. This story teaches us something and you will wonder what. Well, a wise person would tell you: “”psychological law, between not doing anything and doing always what needs to be done. Because if you do not do it you will spend your lifetime thinking about what you did not do, if you do and you mistake, at least it teaches you. When a person gives advice to another one, it hast to be useful, otherwise it is better not to do it because it is not easy. If you’re wondering: “Do I love this man or not? I could tell you another wonderful store: The blue rose. There is a princess who does not want to get married and her father tells her: “You´re marrying someone!” Then she says: “I will marry the one who brings me a blue rose. He says: “But there are no blue roses in the world!” “Well -she says- whoever bring me a blue rose,...
We: A tour of feminist art in the CAAC in Seville
The Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in Sevilla is exhibiting a feminist art group show titled simply “We.” In 1993, the former Museum of Contemporary Art of Sevilla-integrated today in the CAAC-wondered why there were no women artists in its collection, a question which had been posed some 20 years before by American feminist artists: Why do the country´s most prestigious museums have such a low proportion of women in their exhibition halls? Since then, sufficient time has passed to see that these attitudes of public denunciation and have made a difference. Thanks to a thorough review of art history, radical cultural shifts, and scholarship by feminist researchers, the systematic exclusion female presence in the art world is slowly becoming a thing of the past. This group show organized by the CAAC and curated by Maria Luisa Lopez and Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes will remain open until September 26 and has two specific precedents. One, the exhibit 100% exposure is quite local and proposed as a way of responding to those criticisms from 1993. The other precedent is an international exhibition is titled elles@centrepompidou recently at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which exhibited work by some of the most important artists of contemporary art of the twentieth century XXI. CAAC has put together a tour of the works of numerous local and international artists than now form a part of their collection. So names like Hannah Collins, Valie Export, Carmela García, Cristina Garcia Rodero, Victoria Gil, Nan Goldin, Cristina Iglesias, Carmen Laffón, Zoe Leonard, Ana Mendieta, Pepa Rubio, Carmen Sanz, Soledad Sevilla, Aleksandra Mir, Ruth Morán, Marta María Pérez,...
Seville Spring Fair, the feast of feasts
Can you hear the sound of castanets in the distance? Spring has finally arrived and Andalusia fills with festivities and color. First for the Easter Holy Week, and two weeks later again for the famous Feria de Abril, this yearly attracts thousands of visitors (Both foreign and domestic) to the Andalusian capital. This party, which has a long tradition – it is more then 150 years old – is not just one of the most typical festivals in Seville, but in all of Spain. Starting from April 20 , for one week long life in Seville is about dance, tradition, food and drink. Blend in with the locals, enjoy the relaxed and cheerful character of Andalusia and get ready for one of the most emblematic holidays of the year. Again, as has become tradition, the festivities begin with the ceremony of the “Alumbrao”, when at midnight thousands of lanterns are lit on the festival site. What follows is the preparation of a delicious dinner: pescaíto. The Spring Fair attracts nearly 1.5 million visitors, and the fairgrounds are an exact replica of the city, constructed near the neighborhood of Los Remedios. Booths are being build in the form of little houses, and decorated with lanterns, colorful ribbons, etc. In fact, the City Council encourages this ‘decoration contest’ by handing out an award for the nicest or most original booth. The streets of the site are named after famous bullfighters or popular Spaniards. These days you can expect lots of food and typical drinks, incredible bullfights, traditional dances such as sevillanas, horse parades, flamenco dresses and lots of fun. The festivities...
Insomnia, the worst enemy of the new century
The hectic pace of life we lead is not good. Nor is it a secret that the modern societies live plunged in a deep stress. The bad habits such as overwork, drinking caffeine in excess, inactivity, poor nutrition, bad health or personal problems are just some of the causes that may cause one of the greatest scourges of the twenty-first century: insomnia. Increasingly, there are more and more people who spend sleepless nights due to insomnia. This can occur in multiple ways: those who do not get to sleep at bedtime, those who wake up multiple times throughout the night and can not sleep again and those who wake up too early. Anyway, the three are translated into the same thing: a lack of sleep. Over the time, insomnia can cause serious health problems. Irritability, depression, lack of concentration and chronic fatigue are the most common consequences. Generally, an adult needs between seven and eight hours of sleep each night. Although the sleep patterns vary with each person, it is important to sleep well. In extreme cases, we recommend a visit to a specialist. The treatment for insomnia can be simple if one knows the cause that provokes it. Once the cause is eradicated, the insomnia goes away. Nonetheless, you can always resort to improving your daily habits and avoiding bad ones. There are several remedies to relieve insomnia and bypassing the sleeping pills. Following these simple guidelines, the quality of your sleep will surely improve: Create a “sleep routine”: try to get up and go to bed at the same time every day, so your body gets used...
Learning to be happy
Is happiness something that is learned or is it innate? Fears, a pessimistic view of the facts, low self-esteem are some things that are better off rejected. There is only one certainty: happiness depends on you and not from outside sources. This ideal is not unattainable, therefore, take courage! If there were a recipe for happiness, it would have enough ingredients so that we didn’t have any lasting negative feelings. These ingredients are somewhere in the world and they are invaluable. They’re in your own interior. Happiness is not a matter of luck, money, beauty, or laughter even though these are things that can bring us great satisfaction. The general welfare lies in the harmony of oneself. Only by knowing yourself will you get closer to happiness. Therefore, strengthen your self-esteem; take advantage of the pleasures in life, and problems with intelligence. Prefer a fighter’s attitude or an entrepreneurial spirit, and you can be the master of your life. Life is like a black and white photograph: it doesn’t have pure tones but are predominantly grey instead. Unfortunately, you can’t always remove the miseries of life but you can learn from them. Of course we all fall down sometimes – we are only human. Errors aren’t curses, and if we fail at times it doesn’t mean we are complete failures, but you can monitor your thoughts and listen to your own words and that will prevent you relapses, tragedies and crises. And if you don’t like your life, change your way of thinking; check your beliefs and ideas. There is even an international index of happiness! It is seen...
Pride comes before a fall
Snow White’s stepmother is the quintessential prototype of pride: she doesn’t accept that there is someone more beautiful than her. Pride is a deadly sin that is disguised behind many faces. It is considered the worst sin of all by its rejection of any criticism, failure, help or apology. To think you are superior than others can be very destructive indeed.
