Las Fallas de Valencia

Spain retains its third place as one of the most attractive countries for tourism. It is again ranked first in Europe and third in the world in the country brand ranking tourism 2019-2020. This measures the brand appeal of Spain over 200 countries.

When travel agents and tour operators promote Spain for tourism, many envisage features of wonderful beaches lapped by the warm Mediterranean waters, cloudless summer skies, well priced cuisine and relatively cheap alcohol.

However for the seasoned traveller this beautiful country offers so much more. As one such person having now spent almost 25 plus years living outside the UK, the majority of this time in Spain, I have learned why it holds a very special part in the hearts of so many people who visit its beauty every year. The Spanish are a fun loving nation, not only wiling away hours chatting and laughing together in bars overlooking the grand Plazas, watching the colourful historic flamenco, seeing the rich diversity of this beautiful country, mountain top villages, wonderful fishing towns, browsing through the colourful vibrant markets to happen upon a bargain, or some fresh produce that you have to ask the stallholder for advice as to how to present it at the table for that evening's meal.

Knowing that wherever you wander throughout the length and breadth of the Iberian peninsula you will stumble upon a fiesta steeped in sometimes hundreds of years of tradition and be sure of one thing, everybody will be enjoying the fun that coming together in joyous celebration brings to the local community.

One  such  fiesta happens for 19 days in March each year when people travel from all over the globe to take over the beautiful city of Valencia on Spain's southern Mediterranean coast.  The Fallas begins, and if there is one thing the Spanish love in the make-up of a fiesta celebration more than fire it is gunpowder, and on the 1st day of March at 1400hrs thousands of Valencians and worldwide visitors gather in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (townhall square), where the Fallas mayor declares the first masclata of the fiesta to begin. A masclata continues every day here in the square at 1400 hours and, if you have the opportunity,  joining the many thousands that gather shoulder to shoulder is a must.  A masclata is an opportunity each day for a pyrothechnic engineer to create 10 minutes of ‘shock and awe’, a continuous loud noise where over 100 kilos of gunpowder is exploded into the sky and the air becomes thick with  that wonderful acrid smell rising above the crowd.  You must bear in mind the necessity to keep your mouth slightly ajar to prevent your ears being damaged by the noise that exceeds 120 decibels!

Days of dancing, noise, bands playing, the building of enormous effigies called Fallas of which over 700 are placed around the city for a mass burning  ‘La Crema’ on the night of the 19th day of March. Some hours before La Crema at around 11 pm the crowds again take over the main square, Plaza de Ayuntamiento, to await midnight when the skies light up for the last time with magnificent displays of palm-tree like fireworks which cover the entire skies above this lively city. This also takes place when the effigies (fallas) around the city are burnt in the most spectacular fashion. In the lead up to this last night finale there are a couple of weeks of continuous celebrations, where tourists and Valencians alike share in the sights whilst strolling this wonderful city, watching the erection of these magnificent effigies, each one having taken the previous 12 months to be designed and metamorphosed into a truly spectacular display, each one showing the immense ability and professionalism of its creator. 

It has changed a great deal since the carpenters guild of Valencia, when the carpenters, at the end of their winter would clear out their workshop of left over wood and shavings in order to welcome in the new year on the eve of the feast of their Patron Saint, Saint Joseph.  A celebration undertaken annually since 1497. Although not exclusive to the guild of carpenters, local farmers and their workers would also celebrate on the same dates outside  their homes (barracas). The carpenters would work at the front with their workshop doors kept open to use the light in the winter from 29th September, Saint Michael's day to the evening of Saint Joseph’s Day, 19th March, when they would light huge candles hung from poles in a cross-like shape and burn their waste wood. This tradition is thought to have been the origin of the Fallas some time in the 18th century.  From this it was only a matter of time for the fun loving Valencians to have the idea of dressing a scare-crow (parrot) in some old trousers and a hat and the first Fallas was born, all these to be burnt on the eve of St Joseph 18th March, (does this not remind you of our own November celebrations here in the UK). However, that is where the comparison ends, for the Valencians take their fireworks to a whole new level, starting a week prior to the eve of St Joseph.   

Daily there is a demonstration in many of the neighbourhoods around the city  that occurs between 8am and 9am where hand held bangers and fire crackers are thrown by both children and adults alike in a street parade with the presence of a noisy Spanish band, called the ‘desperta’. Then the highlight of the day arrives at 2pm, when Valencians in their droves again assemble in the main square to listen to the pyrotechnic display (masclata).

From the 15th to the 18th of March, every night there is a further impressive display of fireworks when around midnight the skies of this magical city come alive, reaching a crescendo on the night of the 19th which is known as the ‘nit del foc’. I have been  in the city centre on several occasions to watch this spectacular, but have on one occasion had the good fortune with  a wonderful view from my window on an inbound BA flight as it swept across the city on its final approach to the Aeroporta de Valencia in Manises! The skies were alight with a colourful display and the contrast of fires all over the city as the fallas burned was truly a memorable sight, never for me to be forgotten!

The tradition of doughnuts (locally known as Churros) eaten with thick hot chocolate used as a dipping sauce are available during the festivities all over the city through the many bars, cafes and street vendors.

If you have the opportunity to see this annual spectacle please  put it to the top of your wish list.  Although hotel accommodation in the city itself is booked up to a year in advance there are many hotels around local towns in the Valencian Province and fantastic frequent local train services into the centre of the city. 

Please do not hesitate to email questions about this or any of the wonderful fiestas for which the fun loving Spanish are famous for. Email:  malcolmebrooksauthor@outlook.com

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