Fiesta En Valencia

Last weekend, I traveled to Valencia, Spain's third largest city, to witness their famous festival, Las Fallas. As you may remember, I went to Valencia in January and didn't have the best time. It was rainy and I felt lonely so I ended up leaving a day early. I decided I would give Valencia a second try when one of my adult students invited me to travel with him and six of his friends. 
Before I get into my personal experience at Las Fallas, I should probably give you some background. The origin dates back to the Middle Ages when carpenters would collect all the unused material of the year and burn it to celebrate the Spring Equinox. This tradition has evolved over the centuries and now each neighborhood of Valencia builds its own massive structure (up to 30 meters tall), which is eventually burnt to the ground. These structures are known as "fallas". They are usually very intricate and contain a lot of social criticism. Each neighborhood spends the entire year throwing dinner parties to raise money to build their monument. It is speculated that the construction of one falla costs between 70,000-250,000€. 

So they fundraise all year long and at the beginning of March, construction of the fallas begins. It used to be that each person lent a helping hand but the festival has become so big that there are now companies that do nothing but build fallas. It reminds me of Mardi Gras floats in New Orleans, but even bigger. When the construction begins, so does the party. Starting March 1st, each day begins at 8AM with a marching band and firecrackers circulating the city. Then every afternoon, in the square of town hall, and also in some neighborhoods, they have what is called a mascletà. There is a woman who signals the start of the event by saying in Valenciano (similar to the language of Catalan) "Mr. Pyrotechnic, you may commence the Mascletà!" And so for one minute, fireworks are set off without pause. They aren't the kind of fireworks that make pretty colors in the sky, but rather the kind that just go "BOOM BOOM BOOM!" Each day from March 1st onward, the length of the mascletà increases little by little until on the last day of Las Fallas, March 19th, the "BOOM BOOM BOOM!" lasts for up to 6 minutes. There is a huge turnout and the streets are packed. On all the nearby balconies, people gather to watch (really, listen) to the event and the windows of the buildings visibly shake with the powerful explosions. It sounds a little frightening, the crowds and loud noises, but it is truly exciting. Your heart starts to beat to the rhythm of the explosion and you feel the ground shake below your feet. 

I found a YouTube video of the Mascletà. You only need to watch for a minute or so to get an idea of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8unCIC_22Vo

Then every night from the 16th-19th at 1AM, there is what they call a "castillo" which is a firework show that also gets increasingly longer with each day. The show is over the old riverbed, which is now dried up and used for leisure and exercise. I saw the fireworks on the 16th and they were spectacular! To imagine that it only gets better each day, makes the 4th of July seem like a total joke. Hands down, it was the best firework show I've ever seen. 

Finally, on the 19th is the grand event La Cremà, which means The Burning. All of the fallas (over 100 large monuments and several hundred small ones) are connected to a bunch of fireworks which eventually send the monuments up in flames. Hundreds of firemen are on duty that night to insure that the fire doesn't spread. Some of the monuments can take up to an hour to burn to the ground. You may ask yourself, why would they spend all year planning, preparing and constructing a monument that will burn in only one hour? Well, a small monument in the city center asked the same question, "Why do we burn the fallas?" People wrote their ideas on the wall and although some were silly, others were poetic and truly represented the tradition that Valencianos hold so dear. Some examples:
"To start new and forget the old"
"Because it's cool and we can eat paella"
"Because only from fire can dreams be born, because without passion there are no eternal moments"
"So we can burn those that burn us" (as most fallas have a social/political criticism, it is a way to get back at the government)
"To welcome spring"

Here is another YouTube video which shows the burning of the town hall's falla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLEjQzt3M_A The video is a little long so I suggest you jump ahead to see the different stages of the monument burning. I'll also include a picture from Google of the statue they burnt. 

At first I was skeptical, but after reading all the reasons and seeing all the tradition, I am truly in love with the festival.
I spent the weekend in awe, dancing, enjoying the sun and the company of new friends. It made me sad to leave on Sunday because I would have liked to see the fallas burn. I found a broadcast online and was able to see some clips that were amazing. The whole weekend felt like the perfect picture of Spain: parties in discotecas or in the streets, stunning architecture, natural beauty, art, tradition, passion, energy, good food & drink and above all, great company.