Las Fallas - a unique festival in Valencia 🇪🇸

In 2022 we got the opportunity to spend 4 months in Spain on a home exchange/sit through People Like Us. We stayed L’Eliana, a very family friendly suburb town of Valencia. We were lucky to be there right as Las Fallas was happening! We had never heard of this festival but everyone that had experienced it said it is a blast. They were right!!!

It is hard to describe the festival as it is a mixture of daily pyrotechnic shows, fireworks, gigantic colorful and impressive papier machee statues (although nowadays most are made of styrofoam, wood and other materials), typical costume wearing by young and old, street food, music and so much more. It is fun, unique and takes over the entire region. Although the main events happen in Valencia, many suburb towns have mini versions of the events described below.

The festival starts on the last days in February but the main events are on the last 5 days (March 14 - 19th). This period is considered a regional holiday where schools and local business are closed. It’s a big party!

The pageants parade around town! (look at the detailed hairstyle!)

In Valencia there are over 750 “casals fallers”, neighborhood associations that work to build unique and allegorical monuments (ninots). They compete to be the winning ninot, which will be spared from “la Crema” (see below). This is a year long happening for the casals fallers by organizing fund raisers, attracting the best artists for their ninot, competing in the faller pageant, etc it is a friendly competition that is taken very seriously!

Here are the main events/activities/concepts of Las Fallas (spanish) or Las Falles (valenciano):

Las Fallas museum. These are some of the winners of previous years

Las Fallas: the translation of fallas means torch or failure. Nobody knows for sure where it originated but back in the 16th century, where the Valencian tradition in which the city’s carpenters would burn old materials and failed projects on the day before the day of St Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. This evolved over the years and is now one of the most popular festivals in Spain. In Valencia there are over 750 “casals fallers”, neighborhood associations that work to build unique and allegorical monuments (ninots). They compete to be the winning ninot, which will be spared (see below). This is a year long happening for the casals fallers by organizing fund raisers, attracting the best artists for their ninot, competing in the faller pageant, etc etc it is a friendly competition that is taken very seriously!

Voting for the ninot at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias

Ninots: translates to “dolls” in valenciano (a local language that is a mix between spanish and french). These are lifelike and usually depicting bawdy, satirical and current events (2022 was loaded with covid related ninots). They are so impressive due to all the attention to details, colorfulness, magnitude and complexity. The techniques to make them have evolved over the year from the papier marche to nowadays many parts are made with 3D printers. These are truly master pieces and some cost millions of Euros!
La Planta: more then 700 enormous ninots are planted around the city and most roads are cut to traffic allowing for the increased number of people exploring the city. Lot’s of music, street food and parties take place all over town!

Mascletas: a thunderous firework and firecrackers display held on the last 10 days of Las Fallas at the Plaza de Ayuntamiento. As it is at 2pm, it is mostly an auditive experience, however there is plenty of sparks, smoke and even coordinated colorful smoke. This event draws thousands of people daily and if you get close enough to the plaza, you can feel the beets of the firecrackers throughout your body.

Ofrenda de Flores a la Virgen de los Desamparados: The flowering offering, of each casals fallers to the Virgin of Mary. This happens on the last days and the flowers are beautifully displayed on a statue of the virgin Mary and its large pedestal built to hold thousands of flowers and is over 15 meters tall!

Ofrenda de Flores a la Virgen de los Desamparados. You can see it is only halfway finished

La Crema: the burning. On the last day, the 19th, all the fallas are set aflame. Each year, one the ninots is spared from destruction by popular vote. A small part of the large ninot is displayed at the science and art musuem the weeks leading up to Las Fallas. This is definitely worth to see all the creative artwork and participate in the voting! All pardoned (winning) nintos since 1932 are on display at the Fallas museum and a fun activity if you are visiting Valencia. The Crema itself is a massive event and takes over the entire town. It becomes very difficult to move anywhere in Valencia (even on foot), due to the large statues and the vast number of them, the whole city is covered in ash and smoke. Kaio and Josefine joined some friends and said it was a fun and a once in a lifetime experience but not sure they would repeat it!

2021 ninot winnter (due to covid, this was unusually done in september)

Besides of all the above, a myriad of other events also happen during the last 4 days. Festival goers can enjoy bullfighting, parades, music, paella contests, flower offerings and beauty pagaents around town.