Every March Valencia turns into a huge party! Ready to welcome the spring and to celebrate the feast of San JosΓ© – itβs time to celebrate Las Fallas.
Although this year it seems almost like I’m escaping the craziness of this massive street party flying out to the southern hemisphereβ¦ I would like to tell you about The Fallas of Valencia – one of Spainβs biggest national festivals and one of the most outstanding fire celebrations in the entire world.
I have to admit I like Fallas. I also hate Fallas. I liked it as a student living (and partying) in Valencia, I came back for Fallas at a later stage and I guess I would come back again but this year I am (almost) happy to leave and escape the crowds. I guess it’s different when you actually live in this cityβ¦
The term Fallas refers to the celebrations and also to the actual βmonumentsβ displayed and finally burned at the end of the festival.
Each neighborhood of the city organizes a group of people called βcasal fallerβ (or ‘comissiΓ³ fallera’) that works for the whole year on a construction called Falla (a figure or group of figures resembling a colorful monument). During the year the casal organizes fundraising parties and dinners (usually it’s the Paella – the regional specialty).
The Fallas are displayed on the streets, plazas and squares across the city and can be admired during the festival.
On the last day of the festival – the 19th of March (the day of Saint Joseph) all the Fallas are collectively burned. The best figures, one per Falla, chosen by the general public as the jury, are saved from the fire and are exhibited in the Fallas Museum.
The βValencianosβ live their biggest and most international fiesta to the maximum. Tons of visitors come to Valencia every March to join the fiesta where everything that is βbadβ is burned and reborn from the ashes to welcome the new season.
The week prior the 19th – basically five days and nights – is one big continuous street party. There are different events and processions (from historical and religious to comedic). There are crowds on the streets and you can hear explosions all day long (and through the night). The Valencia Community is known for its pyrotechnical skills and so even before the actual Fallas weeks starts you see people throwing fireworks and noisemakers in the streets.
Let me introduce you to the sequence of events during the festival:
La DespertΓ (“the wake-up callβ): At 8am every day, it begins with a brass band marching down every street playing lively music, with the fallers behind them throwing firecrackers in the street.
La MascletΓ – basically a firework show. Very popular in the Valencian Community, where people organize little private Mascletas for weddings and other celebrations. This one is the big, official one. Every day from 1st to 19th of March at 2pm a coordinated firecracker and firework show starts (the main one is the municipal MascletΓ in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento where the pyrotechnicians compete for the honour of providing the final MascletΓ on the night of 19 March) with the Fallera Major, dressed in her fallera finery, calling from the balcony of the Ayuntamiento (City Hall) βSenyor pirotΓ¨cnic, pot comenΓ§ar la mascletΓ ! (βMr. Pyrotechnic, you may commence the MascletΓ !β). Its a very loud event, a display of gunpowder explosions that beats out a unique sound which makes your walls shake even when you don’t live in the city center!
La PlantΓ – is the installation which takes place on the night of 15 to 16 March. The falleros and falleras, the men and women who construct the fallas, work through the night on erecting them, to have them finished by the morning on the 16th.
On the morning of 17th the falleros collect their prizes from the commissions on the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (by then the jury would have visited all of the over 750 cityβs sculptures to decide on the winners).
Lβofrena del flors – the offering of the flowers. On the 17th and 18th all of the casals fallers march from their respective districts to the Plaza de la Virgen to make an offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary (Our Lady of the Forsaken, the Valenciaβs patron saint). The celebration starts at 4pm and goes until the night. At the end you can admire a 15 meter high statue of Virgin Mary covered in flowers standing in front of the Basilica. The whole Plaza smells like flowers. Amazing!
From the 15th to the 18th the night sky of Valencia lights up with impressive fireworks. At midnight, crowds gather on Paseo de la Alameda to enjoy the display of colours. The highlight is the firework show on the night of the 18th – la Nit del Foc (Night of Fire) offers a spectacular show you will probably never forget.
Finally on the night of the 19th there is the main event of the Fallas – La CremΓ (the Burning) where all of the sculptures go up in flames. It starts with the CremΓ of the childrenβs sculptures at 10pm. At midnight it is time for the large monuments to be burned. The falla in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento is the main one and the last one to burn, at 1am in the morning. It is the highlight and the end of the Fallas festival and is preceded by a display of fireworks which fills the square with noise, light and colour.
This year I celebrate it from far away, through photos sent by friends. Pictures of amazing street decorations and colorful sculptures.
Las Fallas de Valencia is simply an event you MUST take part in once in a lifetime. Just like the Oktoberfest or the Carnaval of Rio⦠Amazing and one of a kind.
