I went to Las Fallas in Valencia this past weekend. I learned about Las Fallas through my multiple Spanish classes throughout high school and college and have always wanted to go. However, nothing prepared me for what I just took part in. Las Fallas is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen and experienced.
Many people in the states know about the running of the bulls, and a few know about la tomatina (the tomato throwing festival), but I find that even less know about Las Fallas. I cannot understand this. Las Fallas is HUGE. It is way bigger than the running of the bulls and la tomatina combined. It encompasses the whole city and surrounding area...and Valencia is a pretty big city!
Ok, so I've established it's huge. But what is it? I've heard a few different stories, but Yago's great uncle - a lifetime resident of Valencia - explained it to me as follows..."As you've seen, in big cities, many times we throw our trash on the street, especially big trash like furniture. Since spring brings rains to cleanse the world, we find this is also a good time to clean our houses, start fresh. So what do we do with all our trash? We throw it in the streets. But since spring was such a popular time to start fresh and clean-up, trash began to accumulate throughout the city. So they started burning it. Eventually a day was dedicated each year to this ritual burning of junk. Later, people started making things out of their junk before setting it on fire. Eventually it kept evolving and people started to make huge paper-mache(ish) figures that represented bad things in life - think politicians, unpopular laws, budget cuts, etc. - that also needed to be destroyed or cleansed."
So now, artists dedicate months and thousands upon thousands of dollars to build these HUGE "fallas" that are set up throughout the city for a few days, and finally are burned on March 19th. I had an idea of how big these figures were, but seeing it in person was crazy! And to think about how much money, and how much time these people put into these things just to BURN them after a few days is mind-blowing.
Aside from the figures, the festival entails lots of parades, lots of fireworks, lots of intricate and ornate costumes for the women (complete with Queen Amidala hair!!), lots of Christmas lights, and anything else that equals celebration!
However, the thing that struck me the most was the participation in the festival. It wasn't just one area of the city. It wasn't just the elite, or just the poor. It wasn't for old people or young people. It was ALL-inclusive. Every person in the city was taking part. I've never seen such a huge celebration in which everyone equally takes part. The sense of community was amazing. Each neighborhood or street has its own falla and is super proud of it. Each neighborhood also has it's own community dining tent, and many even hire bands to play and have a dance tent. The party literally lasts 5days straight. They have meals served throughout the day, but also all throughout the night...Yago's cousin informed us that at 3am Saturday night fideos would be served. While walking down one street I saw 6 guys cleaning out a paella pan - 6 had to do it because it was that big! We're talking massive amounts of food, massive amounts of participation, massive figures, massive fires, and massive productions of fireworks, dancing, music, and love.
Incredible.
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