Ciberfallas International

I could not have found a lot of information about this tradition, probably due to my short Englishman and anything of Norwegian.

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Since ancient times, the villages of the Mediterranean coast celebrated the coming of the summer solstice around bonfires that cleansed and purified. In Alicante, the ritual of fire survived throughout the centuries as a festivity connected to the farming community.

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The fire ritual

As a festival for all the senses, the Fallas culminate with the “Cremà”, or burning of all the monuments, on 19th March. This fire ritual consumes a whole year of work, a whole year of dreams. At ten o’clock the children’s fallas are set to the torch, amidst music and fireworks. At midnight, Valencia astonishes the entire world each year by burning its street monuments to ashes, ending with the fallas in the “special section”, whose budgetsare in the range of 400.000 euros  each. Throughout the city fireworks are set off and the flames consume the gigantic figurines as onlookers stand in silence, with eyes reflecting the red flames, amid crackling red-hot wood and showeringsparks and thick smoke.
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Castillo Photo:Josep V. Zaragoza

Valencia is a land of pyrotechnics. There is barely an event held in this region, whether public or private, a popular celebration or a simple family meeting, that isn’t accompanied by the noise and smell of gunpowder.

The Fallas, as the prime example of a popular Valencian fiesta, has a highly varied programme of fireworks displays: from daytime “mascletàs” (see the section referring to them) to ever-more creative and exciting pyrotechnical shows taking place at night, starting from the 15th March, in the old Turia riverbed; specifically, between the Puente de la Exposición – called “La Peineta” (The Comb) by locals – and the Puente de las Flores.

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The mascletà itself is like a concert of gunpowder: pyrotechnicians carefully study the rhythm of firework sequences, launches and whistles, combining them in a spectacular crescendo that concludes with the “terremoto” (earthquake): hundreds of “masclets” exploding on the ground simultaneously. All of this happens in barely six or seven minutes.

Mascletà fallas photo:ciberfallas.com

There is no fireworks display comparable to a “mascletà” and the emotions it arouses can only be understood by experiencing it at least once. Read the rest of this entry »

"despertà"

Although written in Valencian, the term is quite explicit: the “despertà” refers to the act of waking up the neighbourhood. How? Very simple: by setting off hundreds of firecrackers first thing in the morning. The “Falleros” come out into the streets at dawn, armed with a kind of local firecracker known as “tró de bac”, which has no fuse and is set off by throwing it at the ground, making a very loud bang.

This is a celebration that increasingly enjoys the participation of people unaffiliated with the commissions and which takes place in a permanent atmosphere of fun and noise.

"despertà"

A tremendous celebration of fire, the spectacular Cabalgata del Fuego (Fire Parade) takes to the streets of Valencia in the evening of 19th March.

Fire is the fiesta’s symbolic spirit and the Fallas final destination. So this parade is an exhibition of the varied rites and displays from around the world which, use fire as a basic feature.

This is a colourful, noisy event, with floats, giant mechanisms, people in costumes, rockets, gunpowder, street performances, music… All at nightfall, as the time approaches for the “Ninots” (sculptures) to be consumed by flames.

Ninots Exhibition

Falleras Mayores in Ninots Exhibition

At the exhibition you can admire the ninots, cardboard figures that accompany the monuments of the falleros, which have been selected from each of the Junta Central Fallera commissions, and which will be returned to their respective fallas for the celebration. These are true works of art, carefully done by fallero artists “Artista fallero” who worked on them during the year.

The public plays an important part in the exhibit, for their votes will decide which of the cardboard figures is to be indultado, or saved from the fire, and taken to the Museo Fallero, where it will be kept along with all the ninots indultats that since 1934 have been spared. Read the rest of this entry »

In March, Valencia undergoes a transformation: The quiet, hard-working city changes its appearance, its sound, its smell and its rhythm and becomes the venue for an enormous week-long party. The Fallas take over the streets and provide a show that stimulates all the senses.

Cartel de Fallas 2009

It all starts at the end of February. From the ancient Torres de Serranos, the Fallera Mayor (the Queen of the Fallas), chosen from all the falleras of the city, issues the Crida: a call to her people and to everyone to come and join in the festivities. It is the beginning of an unforgettable experience: the Fallas.

The official programme offers a diverse range of activities that run through March, intensifying as the Fallas week (March, from 15th to 19th) approaches. Decorative lighting covers the 370 falla group headquarters spread throughout the city. Valencia becomes an immense and unparalleled museum, born to be destroyed, once its mission is accomplished: the exposure of the negative side of life, exposed to be ridiculed and incinerated.

Falla of the Town hall

If there is one event that stands out above all others, it is the floral offering to the Virgen de los Desamparados (Our Lady of the Forsaken); all the falla groups meet at their casal (headquarters), dressed in traditional costume.

On the night of the 19th of March, St Joseph’s day, the festival reaches its conclusion; the music ends and the last firecrackers announce that it is all over for another year. A year of anticipation and effort is purified and laid to rest through the flames of the bonfires. The falleros stand and contemplate the scene as the fire devours the works of art that were created to be destroyed. The visitor experiences a strange sensation of fascination and understanding of why the fallas must be burnt. The fallero is already planning for next year’s festival; the visitor is planning to come back.

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