Fallas
The Fallas is a traditional celebration held annually in commemoration of Saint Joseph in the city of Valencia, Spain. The five main days celebrated are from 15 to 19 March, while the Mascletà, a pyrotechnic spectacle of firecracker detonation, takes place every day from 1 to 19 March. The term Fallas refers to both the celebration and the Falla monuments burnt during the celebration. The Fallas festival was added to UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage of humanity list on 30 November 2016. A number of towns in the Valencian Community have similar celebrations inspired by the original Fallas de Valencia festival. For example, the Bonfires of Saint John in Alicante or the Fiestas de la Magdalena in Castellón de la Plana.
Each neighbourhood of the city has an organised group of people, the Commission, that meets at the Casal faller, and works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the noted dish paella, a specialty of the region. Each commission produces a construction known as falla which is burned the last day of the celebration. Currently there are approximately 400 registered commissions in Valencia.
Etymology
The name of the festival is the plural of the Valencian word falla. The word's derivation is as follows:''Falles'' and ''ninots''
Formerly, much time would be spent by the casal faller preparing the ninots. During the four days leading up to 19 March, each group takes its ninot out for a grand parade, and then mounts it, each on its own elaborate firecracker-filled cardboard and paper-mâché artistic monument, in a street of the given neighbourhood. This whole assembly is a falla.The ninots and their falles are constructed according to an agreed-upon theme that has traditionally been a satirical jab at whatever draws the attention of the fallers. In modern times, the two-week-long festival has spawned a substantial local industry, to the point that an entire suburban area has been designated the Ciutat fallera. Here, crews of artists and artisans, sculptors, painters, and other craftsmen, all spend months producing elaborate constructions of paper and wax, wood and polystyrene foam tableaux towering up to five stories, composed of fanciful figures, often caricatures, in provocative poses arranged in a gravity-defying manner. Each of them is produced under the direction of one of the many individual neighbourhood casals fallers who vie with each other to attract the best artists, and then to create the most outrageous allegorical monument to their target. There are about 750 of these neighbourhood associations in Valencia, with over 200,000 members, or a quarter of the city's population.
During Fallas, many people wear their casal faller dress of regional and historical costumes from different eras of València's history. The dolçaina and tabalet are frequently heard, as most of the different casals fallers have their own traditional bands.
Although the Falles is a very traditional event and many participants dress in medieval clothing, the ninots for 2005 included such modern characters as Shrek and George W. Bush, and the 2012 Falles included characters like Barack Obama and Lady Gaga. A literary contest organised annually since 1903 by the Lo Rat Penat cultural association recognises the work of local poets who write satirical verses in Valencian that explain these characters. The faller verses are collected in booklets and distributed to participants.
Events during ''Fallas''
The five days and nights of Fallas might be described as a continuous street party. There are a multitude of processions: historical, religious, and comedic. Crowds in the restaurants spill out into the streets. Explosions can be heard all day long and sporadically through the night. Everyone from small children to elderly people can be seen throwing fireworks and noisemakers in the streets, which are littered with pyrotechnical debris. The timing of the events is fixed, and they fall on the same date every year, though there has been discussion about holding some events on the weekend preceding the Fallas, to take greater advantage of the tourist potential of the festival or changing the end date in years where it is due to occur in midweek.But outside the Fallas proper, the Fallas season within the Valencian Community begins on the final Sunday of February and lasts till 19 March, St. Joseph's Day.
Opening Night (La Crida)
Held on the last Sunday of February, La Crida is held in the evening at the Torres de Serranos, one of the historical gateways to the city. Preceded by a fireworks display and a son et lumierie show, the city's mayor presents the keys to the Fallera Major and her princess, and after their addresses formally declaring the commencement of the festivities, the Himne de l'Exposició and Marcha Real are played by the city band to mark the formal start of the festivity season.La Despertà
Each day of Falles begins at 8:00 am with La Despertà. Brass bands appear from the casals and begin to march down every street playing lively music. Close behind them are the fallers, throwing large firecrackers in the street as they go.La Mascletà
The Mascletà, an explosive barrage of coordinated firecracker and fireworks displays, takes place at 2:00 pm from March 1 to 19 ; the main event is the municipal Mascletà in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament where the pyrotechnicians compete for the honour of providing the final Mascletà of the festes. At 2:00 pm the clock chimes and the Fallera Major, dressed in her fallera finery, will call from the balcony of City Hall, Senyor/a pirotècnic/a, pot començar la mascletà!, and the Mascletà begins.The Mascletà is almost unique to the Valencian Community, and very popular with the Valencian people. Smaller neighbourhoods often hold their own mascletà for saints' days, weddings and other celebrations.
A nighttime variant runs in the evening hours by the same pyrotechnicans that were present in the afternoon. In some days, women pyrotechnicians are selected to compete. The event is televised regionwide.
La Plantà
On the day of the 15th, all of the falles infantils are to be finished being constructed, and later that night all of the falles majors are to be completed. If not, they face disqualification.Once the City Falles Major is finally done a fireworks display -Amb de las Falles - is held at City Hall Square to pay tribute to everyone who made these works possible.
L'Ofrena de flors
In this event, the flower offering, each of the casals fallers takes an offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary, titled as Our Lady of the Forsaken, principal patroness of the city of Valencia and the wider Community. This occurs all day during 17–18 March, the first day attended by the Fallera Major and her court. A statue of the Virgin Mary and its large pedestal are then covered with all the flowers.Els Castells and La Nit del Foc
On the nights of the 15, 16, 17, and 18th there are firework displays in the old riverbed in València. Each night is progressively grander and the last is called La Nit del Foc.Cavalcada del Foc
On the final evening of Falles, at 7:00 pm on 19 March, a parade known in Valencian as the Cavalcada del Foc takes place along Colón street and Porta de la Mar square. This spectacular celebration of fire, the symbol of the fiesta's spirit, is the grand finale of Fallas and a colourful, noisy event featuring exhibitions of the varied rites and displays from around the world which use fire; it incorporates floats, giant mechanisms, people in costumes, rockets, gunpowder, street performances and music.La Cremà
On the final night of Falles, around midnight on 19 March, these falles are burnt as huge bonfires. This is known as La Cremà, the climax of the whole event, and the reason why the constructions are called falles. Traditionally, the falla in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament is burned last.All commissions have a falla infantil, which are held a few meters away from the main one. This is burnt first, at 10:00 pm. The main neighbourhood falles are burnt closer to midnight; the burning of the falles in the city centre often starts later. For example, in 2005, the fire brigade delayed the burning of the Egyptian funeral falla in Carrer del Convent de Jerusalem until 1:30 am, when they were sure all safety concerns were addressed.
Each falla is laden with fireworks which are lit first. The construction itself is lit either after or during the explosion of these fireworks. Falles burn quite quickly, and the heat given off is felt by all around. The heat from the larger ones often drives the crowd back a couple of metres, even though they are already behind barriers that the fire brigade has set several meters from the construction. In narrower streets, the heat scorches the surrounding buildings, and the firemen douse their fronts, window blinds, street signs, etc. with water hoses to stop them catching fire or melting, from the beginning of the cremà until it cools down.
Away from the falles, people frolic in the streets, the whole city resembling an open-air dance party, except that instead of music there is the incessant sound of people throwing fireworks around randomly. There are many stalls selling trinkets and snacks such as the typical fried porres, churros and bunyols, as well as roasted chestnuts.
While the smaller fallas dotted around the streets are burned at approximately the same time, the last falla to be burned is the main one, which is saved until last so that everybody can watch it. This main falla is found outside the Ajuntament – the city hall building. People arrive a few hours before the scheduled burning time to get a front row view. This final falla is burned in public after the signal from the Fallera Major to officially commence.