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|  The essential guide to entertainment in Spain. An up to date comprehensive list of what's on in Spain and events in Spain. Las Fallas, Valencia Tourist and holiday information for Spain including concerts, gigs & shows. Las Fallas, Valencia 28th February to 19th March 2010"The scene at Las Fallas is extremely cathartic and difficult to describe, but resembles a cross between a bawdy Disneyland, the Fourth of July and the end of the world!"Fallas of San José (Valencia) Valencia Fallas festival. A unique world event. Only the Valencian city and region has anything like this. If you don't like huge crowds then try the smaller towns in the area. Denia has excellent fallas celebrations. Towering, 3 - 4 stories high paper mache, foam and cardboard cartoon figures are the amazing centre pieces. These incredible creations often rude caricatures of famous people which have taken months to be built only to be set ablaze in the festivities. The fallas of Valencia city and region have to be seen to be believed. Just be careful how you explain some of the depictions to the children as they are very rude and can make even adults gasp in amazement that the police allow them. "falleros" , the local Valencian attendees and visitors from around Spain, Europe and the rest of the world are getting ready for the Crida, the official opening ceremony of the Fallas festivities. Torres de Serranos is the location for the fallas commissions, each with their own procession and banner. Thousands of people will attend the reading of the "pregón" read by the Mayor and the Queen of Fallas that will set the city on fire!All in their traditional Valencian regional dresses, the local area brass bands will play their raucous, tunes to get everyone dancing and the mascletas will burst and bang in the air followed by the smell of gunpowder. The Queen of Fallas and her maids, city mayor and other city officials, will stand near the towers to celebrate the beginning of Fallas. Las Fallas is Valencia's most international festival. In the week of 19 March, the city fills with gigantic cardboard monuments, called ninots, for a competition that is marked by art, ingenuity and good taste. The origin of the celebration goes back to the carpenter's parot: these were wooden lamps used to light their workshops in winter, which they would burn out in the street on the night before the feast of San José. At first they would make them look like human forms by decorating them with old clothes and fabric. In the mid-19th century, however, they began to increase in size and height and to improve their forms, becoming huge decorative statues. In the 18th century, Fallas used to be piles of combustible materials that where called "Fallas" and where burnt the night before the day of San José. These Fallas evolved and acquired a more critical and ironic sense when showing in the monuments reprehensible social scenes. Around 1870, the Fallas celebration was forbidden, as well as Carnival. In 1885 this pressure created a movement that defended typical traditions by awarding in the magazine "LaTraca" the prizes to the best Fallas Monuments. This competition, which began to be popular among different neighbourhoods, brought the creation of the artistic Falla, where critique was still an important element together with aesthetics. In 1901 the Ayuntamiento de Valencia awarded local prizes to the best Fallas. This was the beginning of the union between the people and the political power. This relationship has greatly developed this popular festivity in its structure, organisation and size. In 1929 the first poster contest for the promotion of the Festivities and in 1932 the Fallero weekend was established. It what then, when Fallas became the Mayor Festivity of the Region of Valencia. Today, more than seven hundred big and small Fallas are burned in the city of Valencia. Does the smell of gunpowder excite you? Does the sight of flames make you smile? Do you harbor pyrotechnic urges that are only socially acceptable on the Fourth of July? Well, Las Fallas de Valencia is your kind of event--a loud, smoky, rowdy fiesta where the whole town is literally set ablaze! Las Fallas is undoubtedly one of the most unique and crazy festivals in Spain (a country known for unique and crazy festivals). What started as a feast day for St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, has evolved into a 5-day, multifaceted celebration of fire. Valencia is usually a quiet city with a population of a half-million, but the town swells to an estimated three million flame-loving revelers during Las Fallas. Las Fallas literally means "the fires" in Valencian. The focus of the fiesta is the creation and destruction of ninots--huge cardboard, wood and plaster statues--that are placed at over 350 key intersections and parks around the city today. The ninots are extremely lifelike and usually depict bawdy, satirical scenes and current events (lampooning corrupt politicians and Spanish celebrities is particularly popular). They are crafted by neighborhood organizations and take about six months to construct (and often cost upwards of US$75,000). Many ninots are several stories tall and need to be moved into position with cranesThe ninots remain in place until March 19th, the day known as "La Crema." Starting in the early evening, young men with axes chop holes in the statues and stuff them with fireworks. The crowds start to chant, the streetlights are turned off, and all of the ninots are set on fire at exactly the stroke of midnight. Over the years, the local firemen, called "bomberos," have devised unique ways to protect the town's buildings from torching along with the ninots, such as by neatly covering storefronts with fireproof tarps. And each year, one of the ninots is spared from destruction by popular vote and exhibited in the local Museum of the Ninot along with the other favorites from years past.Traveller and pyromaniac Janet Morton says, "The scene at Las Fallas is extremely cathartic and difficult to describe, but resembles a cross between a bawdy Disneyland, the Fourth of July and the end of the world!" The origin of Las Fallas is a bit murky, but most credit the fires as an evolution of pagan rituals that celebrated the onset of spring and the planting season. In the sixteenth century, Valencia used streetlights only during the longer nights of winter. The street lamps were hung on wooden structures, called parots, and as the days became longer the now-unneeded parots were ceremoniously burned on St. Joseph's Day. Even today the fiesta has retained its satirical and working-class roots, and the well-to-do and faint-of-heart of Valencia often ditch out of town for Las Fallas. Besides the burning of the ninots, there is a myriad of other activities during the fiesta. During the day, you can check out the extensive roster of bullfights, parades, paella contests and beauty pageants around the city. Spontaneous fireworks displays occur everywhere during the days leading up to "La Crema", but another highlight is the daily mascletá which occurs in the Plaza Anyuntamiento at exactly 2pm. When the huge pile of firecrackers is ignited, the ground literally shakes for the next ten minutes.Fallas Today The opening of the Fallas Festivities starts with the Cridà, in which the mayer of the city, stand in the top of the Serranos Towers and invite Valencians to enjoy the celebrations. But really, the celebrations start in the beginning of the month of February. Since February 4th the Ninots, exhibition is open in the Nuevo Centro esplanade. There, the favourite ninot (ironic idea represented in a figure) will escape from the fire and become part of the Fallero Museum and become the ninot indultat (saved ninot) From March 1st through the 19th, at 2 pm, in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, different mascletaes take place. It's a pyrotechnical act composed by a series of fire crackers masclets that explode according to a certain rhythm and end with a spectacular sound. After midnight, on March 15th, the plantà officially begins and all the Fallas monuments can be contemplated in the streets. Between March 17 and 18, one of the most emotive Fallero acts takes place: the traditional flower offer to the Virgen de los Desamparados, where thousand of Valencians gather to offer flowers to the "Cheperudeta", the Virgin's popular name. These days, all Fallero Comissions march dressed up in traditional costumes to accompanied with music bands towards an enormous reproduction of the Virgin located in front of the Basilica (where the original figure stands). The Falleras leave their flowers and, with them, a colourful shawl for the big figure of the Virgin. The last one making her flower offer is the Fallera Mayor of Valencia. On March 19th, the Cremà takes place. It's the moment in which the Fallas monuments are burned and transformed into ashes; is the high point of the festivity as well as the saddest because it's the end of Fallas. Valencia is alive and living only for The Fallas celebrations. The deafening sound of masclets (firecrackers), noise, music, and revellers in their dazzling traditional dress will be filling every street and square in the city on the River Turia until 19th March, the day of San José. On 18th March at 2 o'clock in the morning, the Nit del Foc (Night of Fire) gets underway. Thousands of people will be gathering together along the former course of the River Turia to witness the stunning firework displays that flood the Valencian night sky with light every year, a unique spectacle that announces the imminent arrival of the Cremà. Before then, visitors can wander around the city, discovering the charming streets of Valencia, admiring the immense Fallas monuments that are soon to be consumed by the flames, and enjoying the festive atmosphere and frenetic climax to these celebrations. On the afternoon of 19th March, the Cabalgata del Fuego or Parade of Fire will be taking place, a lively procession of curious characters setting off rockets and creating an incredible light show. And finally, the time comes when hundreds of Fallas monuments will go up in flames in Valencia on the night of the 19th, during the traditional Cremà. At around 10 p.m., the smaller monuments (ninots) will be burned first. And at midnight, the remaining monuments will be set on fire, as burning ash rains down on the city, giving way to a spectacular collection of aerial fireworks at 1 o'clock in the morning www.fallas.com www.fallasfromvalencia.com video from Fallas from Valencia. com FALLAS DE VALENCIA February to March"falleros" , the local Valencian attendees and visitors from around Spain, Europe and the rest of the world are getting ready for the Crida, the official opening ceremony of the Fallas festivities. Torres de Serranos is the location for the fallas commissions, each with their own procession and banner. Thousands of people will attend the reading of the "pregón" read by the Mayor and the Queen of Fallas that will set the city on fire! All in their traditional Valencian regional dresses, the local area brass bands will play their raucous, tunes to get everyone dancing and the mascletas will burst and bang in the air followed by the smell of gunpowder. The Queen of Fallas and her maids, city mayor and other city officials, will stand near the towers to celebrate the beginning of Fallas. Fallas of San José (Valencia) A unique world event. Only the Valencian city and region has anything like this. If you don't like huge crowds then try the smaller towns in the area. Denia has excellent fallas celebrations. Towering, 3 - 4 stories high paper mache, foam and cardboard cartoon figures are the amazing centre pieces. These incredible creations often rude caricatures of famous people which have taken months to be built only to be set ablaze in the festivities. The fallas of Valencia city and region have to be seen to be believed. Just be careful how you explain some of the depictations to the children as they are very rude and can make even adults gasp in amazement that the police allow them.
The wonderful city of Valencia holds its Fallas festival every Spring between February and March. Super humungous cardboard, paper mache and plastic statues are carefully built over the course of months only to be devoured by fire in a unique festival on the 19th March.
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