Las Fallas is a Valencian festival of noise, light and fire, which take places from the 15th to 19th March. The stars of the fiesta are the giant papier-mâché statues, known as “ninots”, which take up to a year to create.

The opening of the Fallas Festivities starts with the Cridà, in which the mayoress of the city, Rita Barberá and the current “Fallera Mayor” stand in the top of the Serranos Towers and invite Valencians and visitors to enjoy the celebrations.

On the 15th is the “plantà”, the grand opening, which is followed by an infinite series of events, the most outstanding of which are the Offering of the Flowers, the “mascletàs”, or giant firecracker sessions, the “nit del foc”, or Night of Fire and of course the “cremà” when all the figures are burnt on the last night of the “fallas”.

Origins

The Fallas have their origins in a ritual celebrating the arrival of spring, later converted by the church into a commemoration of the day of Saint Joseph. The inhabitants of Valencia used to throw their old furniture and junk in the street and burn it as a symbol of purification, showing that winter had gone and spring had arrived. Over time, they also began to burn satirical figures representing those they most detested in the city. Nowadays this spontaneous fiesta is very different indeed.

 Las Fallas today

There are currently some 400 falla groups, called comisiones falleras. Each of them sets up its own Falla and celebrates the fiestas in the open air. The biggest and best fallas cost hundreds of thousands of euros to produce and are true artistic masterpieces, Disney-style cartoon creations meticulously made. The fantastic figures (some the height of five-storey buildings) poke fun at politicians, celebrities and highlight important issues of the day.

Each neighbourhoud in Valencia commissions its falla to a local artist, who then works on the papier mache model. Hundreds of fallas are scattered around the city, many of them higher than the adjoining houses. Most are humorous or satirical caricatures of politicians, priests, or footballers.

These large fallas are always accompanied by smaller, separate displays put together by the children from each locality. In this way, the skills involved in producing the fallas are passed from generation to generation.

La Cremá (the burning of the ninots) takes place on the final night when these spectacular statues are packed with explosives and used to set the city alight. Thousands of fire-fighting volunteers stand by, often in the tiniest of squares in the heart of the city’s residential areas. The resulting multiple inferno is as inexplicable as it is ferocious. From ten o’clock on the night of the 19th, goes up in flames.

The Virgin

Another important element of the fiesta is the ceremony called The Offering of Flowers to Our Lady of the Forsaken, the patron saint of the city, in the Plaza de la Virgen, next to the Cathedral. Hundreds of brass bands accompany the Falleros in traditional costumes marching through the streets, carrying bouquets of flowers to pin on the wooden shawl of the Virgin.

The floral tribute to Our Lady of the Foresaken turns the Basilica square into a colorful garden with thousands of bouquets and other flower arrangements. Every year the carefully designed symbol of the flower ornament is different, a well guarded secret revealed little by little to the public during the twentyfour hours of the flower offering.

Fireworks show

Firecrackers are present all day long and fireworks, a particular Spanish speciality, are displayed twice each day. The first one, called mascletà, takes place at 2pm, opposite the railway station in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento, the main square.

These five-minute display is  a symphony of gunfire which is even more creative each year. A long succession of over-lapping explosions gradually builds in intensity as more and more masclets are let off simultaneously. The ground shakes beneath the feet and the effect is that of a minor earthquake.

The second display, in the evening, takes place along the dried-up riverbed which circles the centre of the city. It often begins late at night – at midnight or 1am – and is one of the best pyrotechnic displays you are likely to witness. The Spanish, specially the Valencians are renowned experts at this kind of event.

Some tips for Fallas

• Try the typical pumpkin buñuelos that you will find all around the town.
• During the festivity, from March 15 through 19, use public transport, specially the underground because many streets will be closed before the Fallas plantà.
• Don’t miss the Nit del Foc, a spectacular fireworks display that takes place on March 18th at the Paseo de la Alameda.
• Wear comfortable shoe wear because you will have to walk a lot if you want to see all the Fallas.
• If you approach where the mascletà is launched, at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, in addition to the noise, you will be covered with papers from the bursting firecrackers, so look for a place where the wind doesn’t blow.
• Don’t block your ears when listen to the mascletà, instead you should leave your mouth open to let the noise flow straight out.