A complicated competition between neighborhoods throughout the city is the center of the attention. The point is to design and create the greatest falla (fa-ya). The designs have a theme and are mostly satirical and humorous, and are most definitely works of surreal art. They are giant sculptures of wood, paper, cork and syrofoam, painted and accessorized to maximize the art and satire in their creation. Artists spend a year on these works and at the end of the Fallas festival at midnight on the night of March 19, they are all BURNED. A year's worth of work, torched. It's a sense of purging and renewal and that they can start over on a new project. It's really kinda cool.
Some of the fallas are political or social in the target of their satire. Many have some level of sexual humor...I mean, this is Spain and sex is very casually addressed here, making most of the rest of the world seem uptight. The sculptures can reach up to 6 or 7 stories tall, most are more in the 1-3 stories range. Some of the creations are fantastic! They are very cartoony, with characters' features and expressions exaggerated. You have to stand and study them for a while to absorb the detail. They have smaller sculptures around them, called ninot (nee-note, a Valenciano word), that complement the satirical point the artist is trying to make. They are usually accompanied by little signs that explain their significance to the falla. Unfortunately, for us foreigners or those from other parts of Spain, the signs are in Valenciano and you can only get the general gyst.
The ofrenda, offering, is another major event that lasts from 4pm to 1am on two days. It is when all of the 100,000 falleras, the girls and women (and there are men too but I don't know how many, just that there aren't as many) who are honored to be dressed in fabulous traditional Valencian dresses that cost anywhere from the hundreds to thousands of dollars and are made of beautiful, vibrantly colored silk with floral designs within their weaves. They are so beautiful! The falleras bring bouquets of flowers to the large (5 story?) frame of the statue of the Virgin Mary and fill in the frame with the flowers until Mary is completely filled in with flowers...I can't wait to see it! Here are some photos of falleras, not on the ofrenda day, but just so you get the idea of the dress and hair.
This is the best we could do with a photo of the ofrenda since we went at night. The Virgin Mary's body is entirely made of flowers.
The most common evidence that something is happening here, other than the fallas in each neighborhood, is the firecrackers. It seems nothing is illegal here, so there are huge ones down to little teenie ones, but all are loud and all ages participate in lighting them at all hours of the day and night. No kidding. Two year olds are out there with a smoldering piece of rope lighting little firecrackers that might be strong enough to blow off the tips of their fingers, but their parents casually sit on the nearby park bench chatting with friends not paying any attention. Insane.
In addition to the daily constant firecrackers, the mascleta, which are like short, fat sticks of dynamite that are suspended from wire or cables and set off in a 5-minute barage of warfare in the main square in Valencia every day at 2pm. We live about a mile from downtown as the crow flies and we hear the thundering plain as day, not to mention the almost constant barrage of booming firecrackers in the neighborhood. Many neighborhoods also have their own shorter and less powerful mascleta each day. We went to some and standing 50 yards away from them was still too loud and the concussion from each rapid-fire explosion was like nothing I've ever experienced.
The festival is all about fire and the grand finale is the burning (crema)of the 350 large fallas and about as many small ones throughout the city simultaneously at midnight on the night of the 19th. The whole city is filled with smoke. Flames shoot high in the air very close to buildings that are constantly being hosed down by firefighters.
Then there's the Fire Parade. We got a spot right by where all the falleras processed in, as well as other courts of women dressed in regionally traditional dress. Beautiful! Then the people dressed like demons came shooting spark torches at the crowd. Uh, wasn't this a holiday in honor of St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters? What's up with the devils?
I'm thinking the devils have something to do with the all-night street parties throughout the city every night for 5 nights, lasting from midnight until dawn. Paaaarty. I am just not that young anymore.
The finale to the Fire Parade was a great firework show at a former gate to the city.
I will post a video of the actual crema, the burning of the falla we went to watch. It was the epitome of insane. Flames reaching 10-12 storeys high right next to apartment buildings.
There are also big fireworks shows every night at 1am. Here we are waiting for them in the middle of a busy intersection.
The kids' school had their own crema of the fallas the kids made. They piled them up in the playground and as soon as the firefighters were ready they lit them up with lighter fluid and fireworks. The entire student body was a mere 20 yards away taunting the firefighters to douse them with water. Instead, Eugene got them to douse Ann! Here is the pile of kiddy fallas.
Thank goodness it's over. We're tired.
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