THE CORPUS CHRISTI FAIR

The Corpus Christi Fair is the city's main festival. Every year, it begins on a Saturday at midnight with the alumbrao, the lighting of the thousands of light bulbs on the façade, and ends the following Saturday with a fireworks display.

More than five hundred years old, these Corpus celebrations were first held under royal mandate. They form part of the most joyful traditions preserved by the city and throughout its history they have served as a break in the daily life of the people of Granada, providing days of healthy conviviality and fun.

Granada smells of Corpus Christi and dresses up as Corpus Christi during these days when a whole range of cultural events, among which the bullfighting festivities stand out, share time with the ornate stalls and the thrilling swings of the fair.

The fair usually takes place in the month of June but does not have a specific date, as it depends on Easter Week. The way to know the beginning of Corpus Christi is to count 60 days from Easter Monday, the first Monday after Easter Sunday, and this will give us the Thursday of Corpus Christi, the big day of the week.

The fair atmosphere can be enjoyed both day and night. The elegant horse-drawn carriages full of people dressed in the typical regional costumes, the flamenco atmosphere, the ‘casetas’ (stalls) and all their ornaments, all of which are decorated to the smallest detail.

In the Granada fair, unlike other fairs, the public casetas are interspersed with the private ones so that the visitor can freely access each of them.

During the week of the fair there are two processions that go through the main streets of the city:

Every Wednesday of the fair, at mid-morning, the Tarasca, a mannequin wearing the clothes that will be in fashion for the following season, rides through the city on the back of a fierce dragon that seems to be surrendered at her feet. So the best kept secret, until her departure, is the outfit she will be wearing that day. La Tarasca, it could be said, is the pagan counterpoint to the religious festival.

Granada's big festival is organised around Thursday, the day of Corpus Christi, when the whole city fills the streets to watch the procession of the Blessed Sacrament from the altar.

On the Sunday of the week following Corpus Christi, a small procession takes place around the Cathedral, the so-called Octava del Corpus.