A visit to Las Fallas in Valencia

Las Fallas is a traditional and unique festival held in Valencia. For the final weekend of this year's Fallas, I had the opportunity myself to travel to Valencia and be a part of the celebrations. There were plenty of firework displays, live music, and falleras parading in their traditional dresses throughout the entire weekend. I visited as many of the colorful statues, or fallas, as I could. I observed the bands playing music and the people dancing in the streets, and tried to get used to the loud cracks of the petardos.

One of the major events was the Mascletá, which occurred every day at 2 pm. La Mascletá is a pyrotechnic show full of smoke, noise, and color that only lasts about ten minutes. If you didn't arrive at least two hours beforehand, it would have been difficult to see anything due to the amount of people that crowded around the plaza. If you did arrive too late and weren't able to see past the masses, however, you would still be able to hear and feel the roar of the firecrackers throughout your body.

One of the major events was the Mascletá, which occurred every day at 2 pm. La Mascletá is a pyrotechnic show full of smoke, noise, and color that only lasts about ten minutes. If you didn't arrive at least two hours beforehand, it would have been difficult to see anything due to the amount of people that crowded around the plaza. If you did arrive too late and weren't able to see past the masses, however, you would still be able to hear and feel the roar of the firecrackers throughout your body.

Even more impressive was the Cremá. The colorful structures throughout the city took the whole year to be designed and built. These elaborate and vibrant fallas can be massive as well as small, which are then called ninots. While the winning ninot is selected by a committee to be placed in a Fallas museum, all the rest of the fallas throughout the city are burned during the Cremá, marking the end of the festival. This is a symbol of cleansing, leaving the bad events of the previous year behind to start the new year with a fresh outlook. While the festival is an ancient tradition of welcoming spring, it has become an incredible Valencian celebration and tourist attraction that cannot be missed.

​Laura Molano, Conversation auxiliary March 2023      ​