Las Fallas & La Crema
When Sara began searching for an Air B&B in Valencia, she was surprised at how expensive things were. Valencia was said to be less expensive than Barcelona, but she couldn’t find a good, low-budget option. Then we discovered why: We had scheduled our visit during Valencia’s most important festival of the year: Las Fallas (pronounced “lahss-FAH-yes”). In Spanish Las Fallas means “the failures.” Las Fallas festivities date back to the 15th century. What happens during Las Fallas? It’s like a week long street party with fireworks and light shows and parades. Then at the end of the week, everything is set on fire! During the week of Las Fallas, the entire city looks and feels like an outdoor art gallery. Each day was an adventure as we explored neighborhoods and streets of Valencia during Las Fallas.
The video below shows the monument titled “2030” during it’s installation. It represents the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN which they intend to achieve by 2030. This monument won 1st place in this year’s Las Fallas special section representing the 9 largest monuments. The budget for this year’s special section (the 9 largest out of over 750 total monuments of all sizes) was $2.72 million Euros! The various monument themes can vary from political to satirical to humorous to whimsical.
What does Las Fallas involve? The busy festival goes on for more than two weeks, including the days setting up the momuments. It’s hard to describe the festival so we are including lots of photos and videos. It was an amazing two weeks!
- Clubs, referred to as commissions, prepare all year long to take part in Las Fallas. There are approximately 400 clubs in Valencia. It seems as if every neighborhood has their own Club. Individuals who join the clubs are called falleros, and they pay dues, some quite substantial, to help fund these projects. Different categories of commission are based on their size and the relative wealth.
- Mascleta: Daily from March 1-19: Fireworks at 2:00 at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Crowds gather each day for this brief, but very loud event.
Below is a small sampling of various Falla monuments in the 2022 Las Fallas. The weather was overcast and quite windy much of the week, so no bright blue, sunny skies in these photos. Every corner we turned, we would discover another monument. This year there were over 750 different monuments throughout the City, ranging in size from 10 feet to 65 feet tall. Each Falla is composed of smaller figures called Ninots which encircle one or more larger figures.
- The Main Event: Building and then Burning Las Fallas.
- Las Fallas: These are large, temporary installations, built of wood, cardboard and Styrofoam, designed by creative artists and built for display in intersections all over town.The Fallas are made from many “Ninots.” Each commission plans all year long for Las Fallas, designing their monuments to be built from March 1-16. Completed installations are on exhibit in the streets of Valencia from March 16 until March 19, allowing all to visit and enjoy these amazing temporary works of art. And allowing the judges to examine and rate them for the competition.
- The Planta: On the morning of March 16, all monuments must be completed and in place at their designated spots all around town. This year more than 750 monuments are displayed all over town. There are three different categories based on size and budget.
- Exhibition of the Ninots: Ninots are selected features from a larger installation. Prior to the Planta, select ninots are displayed at the City of Arts & Sciences. Visitors can peruse them and cast one vote for their favorite. The winning ninot will be “pardoned” and NOT put to fire on the 19th.
- Prior to the Awards Ceremony, the jury visits all the city’s sculptures to consider and select the winners. This year there were more than 750 entries, ranging from huge installations to the smaller children’s sculptures.
- The Awards Ceremony: On the morning of the 17th, the falleras and falleros walk with their commissions (club) to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento to collect their prizes.
- Ofrenda Fallas / The Flower Offering. The Parade of the Falleros: On the 17th and 18th of March, falleros and falleras of all ages, dressed in traditional costumes, carry their Flower Offerings to the Plaza de la Virgen. Their “Flower Offerings” contribute to the completion of the huge Virgen de los Desamparados, the patron saint of the city. When complete at the end of the parades, the huge Virgen covered with flowers is a beautiful sight to see.
The followng video is a little over 2 minutes. It gives you a glimpse of the different parts of the Flower Offering and the Parade of the Fallaros and Fallaras. Each Club had a specific time to start their walk to the Plaza de la Virgen to offer their flowers to the Virgen. All day long and through the night we would see Clubs making their way to the Plaza. You’ll hear the same tune played by the many bands. The melody played over and over in our head for days!
- La Crema: Burning the Monuments: On the night of March 19, St. Joseph’s day, the festival culminates in The Burning of the Monuments, with lots of drinking, celebration, parades and fireworks all around town.
- To learn more about Las Fallas directly from Valencia, Click Here.
On the night of March 19, we walked around Valencia. First we watched the Fire Parade, then we walked to several neighborhoods to watch the burning of the monuments.
My Missing Passport: Although the crime rate in Europe is quite low, travelers are warned to beware of pickpockets. We’ve now experienced that for ourselves. On the night of La Crema, we spent a few hours standing in dense crowds as we watched a parade, and later some of the burnings. Back at our Air B&B, Evan found that his passport was gone. It had been in a zipped pocket which should have been safe enough, but someone had managed to unzip and remove the passport.
Happily, I lost only my passport, not my wallet with money, cards, and other essentials. We were concerned because our next travel – a train to Barcelona to catch a flight to Tel Aviv — was only two days off. But things worked out well for us. I reported the theft with police in Valencia. Our Sunday train took us to Barcelona, and we found the U.S. Consulate first thing Monday morning. Thus, I was able to get a “replacement” Passport in plenty of time to catch our scheduled flight at the airport.
From Valencia, we headed east, to Tel Aviv Israel, where we would join friends on a tour of the Holy Land.
