Which festival ...
... takes place in March?
Clue 1: It is on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
Clue 2: It is in commemoration of Saint Joseph.
Clue 3: It is officially 19 days long, but the main events occur across 5 days (15th-19th).
Clue 4: It takes place in Valencia, Spain.
Any ideas?
It’s the festival of “Las Fallas”. The word “fallas” is pronounced very similarly to the English word “fires” and the Valencian word itself, means “torch” or “flame”.
The festival has its roots in the ancient tradition of carpenters burning their old tools and scraps of wood to welcome the arrival of spring. Later, the church declared 19th March as St Joseph’s (patron saint of carpenters) Day. Over time, rags were added to the traditional bonfires, which led to the idea of effigies, which gradually evolved into “ninots” (puppets in Valencian), which together form “fallas”.
Fallas are enormous displays (some reaching 10 metres tall) of meticulously crafted papier-mâché, wood and/or wax statues, typically satirical and of political nature. They can be viewed throughout Valencia during the festival and on the last day, all (well, nearly all) are burned, in a spectacular blaze called “La Cremà” (the burning)!
There is one ninot which gets “saved”. This is the one with the highest number of votes and it gets put in a museum. All that is left of the others, which have taken months to prepare, are simply ashes and photos!
And as if the outdoor gallery weren’t enough entertainment, there are orchestras performing traditional Valencian music in the streets and paella being cooked on every corner.
And at 8am daily, there’s “La Despertà” (the wake-up call), when brass bands march along the streets playing lively music. At 2pm every day, there’s “La Mascletà” an explosive and extremely loud display of firecrakers.
It’s certainly not a boring month in Valencia and never is it boring at Linguatastic. For information on our activities e-mail: info@linguatastic.com