Valencia's biggest fiesta is all about making a noise

Although nominally about Saint Joseph's Day (19 March), the coming of spring and burning the old to make way for the new, in reality Valencia's Fallas are one more example of massive street celebrations Spanish style. While most such events - the running of the bulls in Pamplona, the Feria de Abril in Seville - involve getting little sleep and making lots of noise, Valencians take this latter precept to new heights.

A major part of the celebration is the mascletá, in which thousands of firecrackers are set off every day around 2pm. The biggest mascletá is held in front of city hall, where hundreds of kilogrammes of firecrackers go off for well over five minutes, gradually building up into a grand finale that makes the ground shake and leaves one feeling dizzy and confused. While this may not sound particularly appealing, Valencians seem to love it and will discuss the finer points of each particular mascletá.

Meanwhile, actual firework displays are also going on around the city. Valencian pyrotechnics have a worldwide reputation for state-of-the-art displays that are second to none, and the Fallas provide a good opportunity to see local firework companies perform on their home turf.

As if all this noise was not enough, from 15 to 19 March everyone seems to be holding a banger in their hand, and will set it off anywhere, anytime. Finally, in case anyone should actually be getting any sleep, there are roving bands of musicians who march across the city at 8am playing rousing tunes - followed by more firecrackers. This boisterous custom is known as La Despertá, or The Awakening.

But the Fallas are not just about noise. Another major draw is the giant wood and papier-mâché sculptures that are built throughout the year and generally depict a satirical scene making reference to politics or other issues that have made the news recently. These can be several stories tall and take a crew of experienced craftsmen to build at a cost that runs into the thousands of euros. There are well over 500 such floats in the city alone, all competing to be the one that will be spared and kept in a local museum. The rest will all be burnt down at midnight on 19 March during the festival's climactic and cathartic La Cremá (The Burning). Local firefighters have had to develop special systems to prevent nearby buildings from also catching fire and setting the entire city ablaze.

Besides all this, there are street parades, while local neighbourhood associations, known as casals fallers, cook traditional paellas out in the street, where other regional specialties such as churros and porras (deep-fried batter sprinkled with sugar) may be sampled. Many Valencians also deck themselves out in elaborate traditional costumes.

[March 2008]

[Copyright El Pais / SUSANA URRA 2008]