Las Fallas runs for a few weeks in March, but the last few days are the main event and not to be missed. According to the roughly year-old tradition, the festivities begin on the first Sunday of March at 5am. Brass bands parade through the streets with a wake up call La Desperta , and continue every day until the final burning. We got a cheap flight into Valencia on the main day Saturday morning ready to party the weekend away. The night of the burning is what I really wanted to see, but there is so much more on offer.
The theme was hell and it was designed to burn slow. The main falla I saw was a majorly quick burn — the heat that came off it was searing. As you can see, these giant paper mache figures are stuffed with fireworks, blown up and burned. The main feature of the Fallas Festivity, a tradition of communities in Valencia and its diaspora celebrating the coming of spring, is the giant falla. The falla is a monument made up of ninots caricature pieces created by local artists and craftspeople that provides a commentary on current social issues.
Erected in the town square, the falla is set alight at the end of the festivity, which runs from March 14 to 19, to symbolize the coming of spring, purification and a rejuvenation of community social activity.
In the meantime, marching bands parade the streets, outdoor meals are held and fireworks staged. Love the smell of gunpowder in the morning? Does the sight of mangled statues and technicolor fireworks set your pulse racing? Still nodding profusely? In mid-March, this smoky, colorful celebration of puppets and pyrotechnics rolls into the eastern Spanish city of Valencia. It goes without saying that the focal point of the Las Fallas festival is its fallas, giant statuesque puppets constructed from cardboard, wood, and plaster.
These usually portray current events or contemporary political satire and are created by a crew of arty volunteers in the months leading up to the festival. Strange but true fact, some fallas are so heavy that they actually require cranes to move them into position.
Las Fallas is one of the most unique festivals in Spain — and Europe for that matter. At no other festival do you see such huge efforts being poured into creative projects, only for them to be intentionally destroyed in a blaze of glory. Fallas-making is a very serious business in Valencia. In the past, some groups have even dedicated one whole year to build their statue. The origin of the festival is a bit of a gray area, but most trace the fires back to early pagan rituals that celebrated the beginning of spring and the change in seasons.
There are other theories, however. During the sixteenth century, the Valencian working classes used a very basic version of a streetlight to illuminate pathways during long winter nights. Once every neighborhood has completed its own falla, they are placed around the city overnight so that locals and tourists wake up to an array of surprise visitors. Fireworks shows reach their peak on March 16th.
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