FALLAS

What is Fallas, you ask? Probably the greatest thing ever invented, in my opinion. It could just be my youthful, idealist expectations, though. There are conflicting views on the subject, and I guess I shouldn’t pass judgment until I experience it firsthand, but I’ll give the low down on what it is.

Fallas is the festival of burning. A month of excitement, and a full week of intense, concentrated, hardcore debauchery that millions of people from all over squeeze into the streets of Valencia to experience. It’s so chaotic that the school (along with the rest of the city) is closed for the week. It’s so eventful that our only homework while we have this free week is to truly experience the festival. One of the professors gave us a presentation on Fallas after school Friday, so now I have a better understanding of what it is. Here is the dictionary I have composed of the terms I have learned.

Falla: A giant structure made by various barrios in the city. Each falla has a theme that the barrio decides on and an artist that actually designs it. There are fallas of all different sizes, but the biggest ones are in the “special selection” and these giant monuments tower over all surrounding buildings. I saw my first one yesterday and I couldn’t believe how big and beautiful it really was. They are made of wooden frames with a type of papier-mâché over it so that they burn easily, and that’s exactly what they do with them. Each barrio spends an entire year planning and building these structures, so that at the beginning of the week, they put them together in the middle of plazas and streets (literally, half the streets are closed because there are giant monuments sitting dead in the middle of them), then they judge them and give out prizes, and then they BURN them. And we’re not just talking about parade floats that your Girl Scout troop put together for the Christmas parade. We’re talking about THOUSANDS OF EUROS and countless hours go into creating these things. The most expensive Falla this year is over near the beach and it is of two giant mermaids. The price? A cool 600.000 euros. All to view it for a few days and then burn it. But that’s exactly the message they’re trying to portray. It’s a condemnation of materialism, attempting to express the unimportance of money. It’s all about the experience, the socialization that comes with the festival. So really, when you pay so much money to create these fallas, you are literally burning money. It’s a type of mindset that I truly believe you could only have in Spain. And this is definitely something they would NEVER permit in the US. There are literally giant fires in the center of the city. I mean sure, there are firefighters and ambulances nearby, and the school told us the address of the burn center, but it’s literally every man for himself. Just make sure you stand upwind of the burning to that you don’t catch on fire. It’s a much more laidback attitude here that’s really refreshing from the uptight, I’ll-sue-you-in-a-minute attitude that fills American minds.


(I found this photo on the internet. I´m sure I´ll have some good ones of my own to post after)

Fallero/a: There are hundreds of men, women, boys, and girls running around the city in antique clothing. Anyone can be one if they want to; all they need is the clothes. And the dresses are absolutely gorgeous. They also have the crazy hairstyle that’s got a little bit of Princess Lea incorporated in it. Every barrio has a fallera and fallero mayor and infantile. They vote on who they want to be the older fallera (mayor) to represent the barrio, and the younger fallera (infantile), as well. Then, there’s one fallera that represents the entire city of Valencia. She is democratically elected and is supposed to be superfallera – having a deep knowledge of the festival, and from what I hear is typically really pretty, really rich, and has pretty powerful parents. No one ever objects, though, I guess because it’s a tradition. She reigns over the city for a year and has a court and everything. I think it’d be pretty cool to be one. The outfits look pretty sweet, too.



Masclatá: This is an event that happens every day for the month of March at 2 pm. In the center of the Plaza of Ayuntamiento, there is a cage FILLED with fireworks and barricades set up that people stand behind and wait to watch. They aren’t the typical fireworks, though. There are strings of them that they set of and watch them go down for a good five minutes. And man, do the Valencians really know how to do fireworks. Aside from watching the petardos go off and the fireworks shoot into the sky as the whole plaza fills with smoke, the real experience is hearing it. It literally sounds like a war as the whole city trembles, especially at the finale. You can feel your heart vibrating in your chest during the end. Definitely something I’ve never experienced before.

These are the most crucial terms for the festival, and below is the schedule for the week. I fully intend to go to it as much as I can. Our professor told us the key to Fallas: SLEEP AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. I’m a little bit worried about my ability to survive this week, but I really will make an effort. Although, I really am already sick of the HUGE crowds of people. It really is something I’ve never experienced before. First, living in a big city, and then having the population triple for a week. It now takes three times longer to get anywhere. And even though I’m outside most of the time, I still feel claustrophobic as the ridiculously big crowds fill every street, restaurant, and metro station. I sort of understand why some people flee the city during this week, but I’m only here once. I have to live it up.

15 marzo: la plantà
When all the fallas are set up throughout the city. They’ve actually been setting up for a week now, but this is the day when it has to be finished. There are 385 fallas in the city.

16 marzo: los premios
They judge all the fallas and give out the prizes. This is extremely important for the ones in the special selection because they need the acclamation in order to fund future fallas. Also, it’s mad street cred.

17 marzo: la ofrenda
Fill the statue of the virgin with flowers

18 marzo: la nit del foc (the night of fire)
BURN THE CITY!!! This night is supposed to be CRAZY, like crazier than the others. Everyone stays up the whole night, drinking and raging until…

19 marzo: la cremà
They burn the fallas!!

So what will I be doing this week? Well, aside from walking around and taking it all in, we’re going to the mescletas and trying to visit as many fallas as possible before they burn them. Really, it’s just a giant block party (but for like a million blocks) with millions of people. Typically, it’s pretty warm outside for the festival. However, this is the freakishly coldest winter Valencia has ever experienced and I’m SO tired of being cold. I know it’d be more enjoyable with good weather, but since Mother Nature is being a puta these days, we’ll have to bundle up and hit the streets regardless. At least it’s supposed to be sunny for the week!