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FALLAS
Entered on UNESCO's Representative List of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Falles (Valencian) / Fallas (Spanish) - pronounced, "FI-es" / "FI-as" - is a traditional celebration held each year in March in commemoration of Saint Joseph in Valencia. The term Falles refers to both the celebration and the monuments created during the celebration.
Each neighborhood of the city has an organized group of people, the Casal faller, that works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the famous dish, paella, a specialty of the region. Each casal faller produces a construction known as a falles.
On the final night of Falles, around midnight on March 19, all of the falles are burnt as huge bonfires. This is known as La Cremà (the Burning), the climax of the whole event, and the reason why the constructions are called falles ("torches").
(Edited from Wikipedia. For much more background, see Fallas 2015 link at the right and subsequent years for both general and specific topics and images.)
This year a million visitors are expected to visit Valenica, a city of 800,000 people, in order to experience Fallas. This is the scene of the crowds a block away from the source of the mascletà in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, leaving after the daily, 2:00 P.M., 5-minute bombardment...a week before the festival itself begins. It is one indication that the projected number of visitors is not exaggerated.
...and for evening fireworks.
Fallas events are available on local and national live feeds.
(In the background of the second photo, the Ofrenda de Flores a la Virgen e los Desamparados /Offering of Flowers to the Virgin and the Helpless. For hours/days, thousands of members of the neighborhood casals in full Fallas regalia each bring a small bundle of flowers to be placed on the statue by volunteers who climb and/or are perched on the construction in order to place them in an certain configuration.
Four towering ninots in the process of being assembled.
One of the results the next day.
Members of a local Casal Fallera celebrate the construction of their
local fallas at a communal meal.
In honor of the Palau de la Música, one of Valencia's concert halls.
Three of this year's multitude of Fallas street food vendors.
(See the Fallas post for 2019 for a focus on the vendors.)
La plaza del Ayuntamiento - City Hall Plaza
A large portion is fenced off and readied for the staging of the daily mascletà.
"A mascletà is a pyrotechnic event characterized by the achievement of a noisy and rhythmic composition that features, particularly during daytime, in street festivities...It gets its name from the masclets (very loud firecrackers that are tied by a wick to form a line or firework display. These are usually fastened at a medium height with ropes or raised by cannons.)
Unlike the fireworks that seek visual stimulation, the mascletades aim to stimulate the body through strong rhythmic sounds of masclets; some people consider these sounds as "musical" sounds, while not neglecting the importance of the visual aspect. What distinguishes a mascletà from a succession of explosions is the rhythm that masclets must create to explode. It is essential that the force of the explosions must gradually rise, before coming to a dramatic conclusion; because without that, a mascletà can not be considered as such."
(Wikipedia)
Not willing to stand in the long lines to buy your personal and easily available fireworks at multiple stores? Try the local outlet of a fashionable Parisian
skin care boutique.
La falla municipal
"Cardioversió valenciana." / "Valencian cardioversion."
de los artistas Marina Puche y Manolo García
(Cardioversion is a procedure used to return an abnormal heartbeat to a normal rhythm. This is, of course, a reference to the return of life "as normal" after Covid.)
"…la falla municipal esta
presidida este ano por un gran corazón, que nos habla de emoción, de latidos y
experiencias que nos crean alegría y palpitaciones."
"…the municipal Falla is presided over this year by a big heart, which speaks to us of emotion, of heartbeats and experiences that create joy and palpitations in us."
(And, there are also amplified sound effects of a heart beating in case there is any question of the intent.)
PHARMACY
"This FALLAS do not miss anything.
Beauty express: Erase the signs of fatigue...stop hangovers.
Ready for your sexy nights?
Save your voice: pamper your throat....Control excesses: acidity, Binge eating (drinking...)"
19 March, 23:00
Cremà de la falla municipal
In theory, this is the final ceremony of the burning of all the fallas. In truth, with firefighters in attendance, the several hundred falles around the city are carefully set aflame into the early hours of the morning.
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