Corpus Fair

At this time, the city gets ready to enjoy its annual holiday, which was ordered by royal mandate over five hundred years ago. Granada celebrates the festivity with a full range of cultural events, with bullfighting as the highlight.

Every year, it begins at midnight with the “lighting up”–the thousands of light bulbs on the entrance arch are turned on– and it ends the following Sunday with a firework display.

The fair atmosphere can be enjoyed both by day and by night at the fairground. At the Fair of Granada, unlike others, the public 'casetas' (tents) are interspersed with the private ones, so visitors can enter freely and discover the atmosphere experienced over this period at this festivity.

During the week of the fair, there are 2 processions that are worthy of note:

* mid-morning on the Wednesday of the fair 'La Tarasca', a dummy that is supposed to be wearing the clothes that are going to be in fashion that season is carried all around the city on the back of a fierce dragon that seems to be smitten at her feet. So the best-kept secret, until her appearance, is what outfit 'La Tarasca' will be wearing that day. You could say that it is the pagan counterpoint to the religious festival.

* The big festivity is organised around the Thursday, Corpus Christi: a day when the whole city crowds into the streets to see the procession of the Sacrament.

All week long, the 'Carocas' are on display in Plaza Bib-Rambla Square, satirising the year’s most important event in drawings and verse.