Every year, the world sees several little festivals and celebrations all around, but Las Fallas in Valencia is special and exciting in its way. Las Fallas is a small festival celebrated in the city of Valencia from March 15 to March 19.
The celebration marks a crazy list of celebrations with fiery displays and some mesmerizing sculptures depicting the true festive vibes across the city. There’s a list of the cultural event followed up by a parade which is worth enjoying. It is one of those festivals of Valencia that marks the most spectacular and united spirit of the people here.
What is Las Fallas?
Las Fallas is one of the oldest and most traditional festivals of Valencia which is believed to be a carpenter’s tradition where they celebrate the arrival of spring in full swing and energy around the city. They also have some sacred offerings of flowers under the spring festival and blossoms. The people of Valencia follow everything that honors the art and culture of the people of their city. Right from parades, flower exhibits, music, party, and much more, there’s everything that symbolizes the arrival of a new spring.
The 19 days of Las Fallas festive celebration
The event starts on March 15 and ends on March 19. The festival is a 19-day celebration altogether. Flowers, guns, art, religious traditions, paellas in the street, and other displaying activities are presented as well. They have a special firework that explodes with a sound when the Fallera Mayor declares “Senyor pirótecnic pot començar la mascletà” (“Mr. Pyrotechnic, the mascletà can start now”). Make sure that you take enough care of your ears and keep opening your mouth in between as the voice might reach 120 decibels.
The next comes the monumental setups and presentations set up by various artists. They have it like a competition with these super artistic displays where judges award the best ones and choose it not from burning.
During the festival, Valencia sees more than 750 monuments. They are further divided into categories and later put up for display. While the day is full of visual arts work and flower blossoms all around, the nighttime here is no less than a treat to spend beneath the stars. The night sky is full of colorful fireworks that fill up the sky of Fallas.
With the celebrations going in full swing, there’s another interesting thing about the festival not to be missed, the flower parade. There’s a 15M high flower structure designed to represent the Virgen’s cape offering to the Virgin de Los Desamparados, patron saint of Valencia.
Food to enjoy in Las Fallas
Valencia welcomes Las Fallas with lots of celebrations and get-togethers, but at the same time, leaves no stone unturned in organizing the lavish food festival around. The fun and laughter continue with lots of street food and stalls all around. Right from delectable pancakes to mouth-watering sausages, there’s everything in here to taste and enjoy. The grill shops here have some of the finest and most exquisite grills to offer. Seafood, beef, and chicken grills are a must-try here. the local street sellers fill the entire space with sharp and aromatic chargrilled goodness.
The brown fried pumpkins named Bunuelos are served with some sugar sprinkles. They taste delicious and are a must-try. If you are still not full, then do wind up the food feast with a cup of hot chocolate at the end. We of course wouldn’t advise you to vibe around the holiday season without a cup of hot chocolate though.
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Fireworks and Gun Powder
Las Fallas is a full-on complete energetic roller coaster vibing place. With all the gun noise, fireworks, and music pop-ups, the festival is all set with a super energetic vibe around. On 19 March, the firework known as La Mascletà is displayed at 2 pm at the Town Hall Square. There’s also a major firework displayed on 15-17 March beside the old river banks, which are now turned into Turia Garden. Make sure you don’t miss out on the nightlife fun here.
There’s a lot to witness and catch up in the air. On March 18, there’s a grand festive firework display held every year. We truly recommend you to stand at the bridge points of Pont De Les Florals and Pont de L’Exposico.
Enjoy the costumes around
Right from regional costumes to special festive ones, every costume here is a story in itself that you don’t want to miss out on. We truly love the colorful vibes here all speaking in their own energetic tunes. The show Is no less than a fancy dress parade wherein y
You get so much to enjoy and learn at the same time. It’s truly entertaining and enjoyable to witness the spectacular performances in these lovely costumes.
The best ones are the little cartoon towering-like installations with small puppets called Ninnots. We truly recommend the visitors to wear comfortable clothes and shoes to fully enjoy the views.
Pay tribute to the virgin Mary
Don’t forget to visit the Plaza de la Virgen early on March 17 and 18. There are colorful processions decorated all around and most importantly, the virgin Mary figure is all decorated and towered up with due respect and love. A 14 M high wooden structure is stunning.
There’s also a special burning on the final day which is also the grand finale where Fallas puppets go into fumes. An hour later, there’s main Falla burning which takes place in every neighborhood. Some also believe that this tradition has been a derivation from the old pagan tradition where they stack up all their old unwanted belongings out in street to honor the upcoming spring and bid a warm goodbye to winters.
And lastly, people hang around a lamp on their doors as an ending note to this tradition.
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Las Fallas is truly a deeply rooted cultural and traditional festival. Over the past few years, they have successfully attracted a lot of tourism around this time of the year. Though over the past few years, there is has been complaints regarding air pollution and damage to the historic sites but still, the spirit of the festival remains alive.
If you ever plan to visit Valencia, make sure that you do proper research and plan your trip accordingly to witness the beauty of the entire festive vibe. If not las Fallas, some other local festival at least. There’s a lot to explore here with the local culture and traditions on one’s visit.
Do share with us, if you discover more about las Fallas.
