JOAN SERRA MINGOT

 

Every last Sunday of February, a loud roar and a lot of gunpowder pervade the Town Hall Square of Valencia. It’s the so-called, cridà, the first mascletà of the year (an impressive firecrackers display) and the starting signal of a festivity lead by papier-mâché monuments up to 30 meters high.

 

The Fallas are Valencia’s most international festival and are celebrated in this city and other towns of the Comunidad Valenciana from the 15th to the 19th of March. Officially the festival starts about two weeks before, on the last Sunday of February, when the Fallera Major announces the beginning of the festival. Probably, many of you will be wondering what the Fallera Major is. She is the woman who represents the Fallas each year, followed by a train of lower-rank falleras, who dress the traditional costume that women from Valencia wore centuries ago only on very special occasions. The traditional hairdo, which consists of two hair-buns on each temple, known as rodetes, is very characteristic and caricatured by the rest of Spain. However, buying one of these costumes is no laughing matter, as prices range from 2.000 to over 12.000 Euros.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the greatest attractions of this festival is the street lightning of Valencia. 850.000 bulbs were used by the Falla’s committee Cuba-Literato Azorín last year in order to become the winner of 2013. The best street lightning usually focuses in the Ruzafa area, whose streets experiment an explosion of light and color, with bright arcs, columns or bridges that include music to enliven the atmosphere even more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As any self-respecting festival, gastronomy is a very important part. During the Fallas’ week, many bars and street stalls sell the traditional pumpkin buñuelos, a sort of sweet pastry that accompanied with a cup of hot chocolate is delicious! And, of course, the Valencian paella, which is cooked in restaurants, marquees and even in the street. No, Valencian people are not crazy. It is part of the festival and cooking chicken and seafood paellas anywhere and at anytime is one of the most deeply rooted traditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, Fallas would not exist without the so called ninots. These are huge monuments that combine the aesthetics with humor and satire, usually about today issues. Light topics are reserved for the smaller size children’s ninot. The Fallas’ artists are responsible for the design and the building of the monuments– among many other things – and use wooden, cardboard, paper or polystyrene, in other words, combustible materials. But, why these components and not others more resistant materials…?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…To burn them, because that is the rationale of the Fallas. Pieces of art that become ashes in the night of the 19th of March, known as the cremà (the burning). The falleros douse the monument with petrol and, at the light of an exceptional fireworks display, they set them on fire, while the Fallera Major cries for the end of the festival. With the fall of the last traces of the ninots, people start clapping moved by the thought that the next day they have to forget the feast days and go back to work.

 

 

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