Falles

The Falles (in Catalan/Valencian) or Fallas (in Spanish) are a Valencian tradition which celebrates Saint Joseph's Day (19 March) in Valencia, Spain. Each neighbourhood of the city has an organized group of people, the Casal faller, that works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the famous regional speciality paella, and of course much music and laughter.

Each casal faller produces a construction known as a falla which is eventually burnt.

The name of the festival is thus the plural of falla. The word's derivation is as follows:
falla ← Vulgar Latin *facla ← Latin facula (diminutive) ← Latin fax, "torch".

Falles & ninots

Formerly, much time would also be spent at the Casal Faller preparing the ninots (Valencian for puppets or dolls). During the week leading up to 19 March, each group takes its ninot out for a grand parade, and then mounts it, each on its own elaborate firecracker-filled cardboard and papier-mâché artistic monument in a street of the given neighbourhood. This whole assembly is a falla.

The ninots and their falles are developed according to an agreed upon theme that was, and continues to be a satirical jab at anything or anyone unlucky enough to draw the attention of the critical eyes of the fallers — the celebrants themselves. In modern times, the whole two week long festival has spawned a huge local industry, to the point that an entire suburban area has been designated the City of Falles — Ciutat fallera. Here, crews of artists and artisans, sculptors, painters, and many others all spend months producing elaborate constructions, richly absurd paper and wax, wood and styrofoam tableaux towering up to five storeys, composed of fanciful figures in outrageous poses arranged in gravity-defying architecture, each produced at the direction of the many individual neighbourhood Casals faller who vie with each to attract the best artists, and then to create the most outrageous monument to their target. There are more than 180 different falles in Valencia, including those of other towns in the Valencian Community.

During Falles, many people from their casal faller dress in the regional costumes from different eras of Valencia's history — the fife and drum are frequently heard, as most of the different casals fallers have their own traditional bands.

The subject matter of constructions may surprise outsiders. Although the Falles are a very traditional event and many participants dress in mediaeval clothing, the ninots for 2005 included such modern characters as Shrek and George W Bush.

Mascletà, cremà & other celebrations

The days and nights in Valencia are one running party during the two weeks of Falles. There are processions galore — historical processions, religious processions, and hysterical processions. The restaurants spill out to the streets. Explosions can be heard all day long and sporadically through the night. Foreigners may be surprised to see everyone from small children to elderly gentlemen throwing fireworks and bangers in the streets, which are littered with pyrotechnical débris.

Every morning at 8 o'clock begins the despertada or despertà, i.e. the "wake-up call". Brass bands march down every road, followed by other fallers throwing firecrackers. There may also be falleres in their elaborate dresses.

On the final night of Falles, around midnight on March 19th, these falles are burnt as huge bonfires. This is known as the cremada or cremà, i.e. "the burn-up", and this is of course the climax and point of the whole event, and the reason why the constructions are called falles ("torches").

Many neighbourhoods have a falla infantil (a children's falla, smaller and without satirical themes), which is a few metres away from the main one. This is burnt first, at 10pm. The main neighbourhood falles are burnt closer to midnight. The awesome falles in the city centre often take longer. For example, in 2005, the fire brigade delayed the burning of the Egyptian funeral falla in carrer del convent de Jerusalem until 1.30am, when they were sure they had all safety concerns covered.

Each falla is adorned with fireworks which are lit first. The construction itself is lit either after or during these fireworks. Falles burn quite quickly, and the heat given off is felt by all around. The heat from the larger ones often drives the crowd back a couple of metres, even though they are already behind barriers that the fire brigade has set several metres away from the construction. In narrower streets, the heat scorches the surrounding buildings, and the firemen douse the façades, window blinds, street signs, etc. with their hoses in order to stop them catching fire or melting, from the beginning of the cremà until it cools down after several minutes.

Away from the falles, there are people going crazy through the streets, with the city resembling an open-air nightclub, except that instead of music there is the occasionally deafening sound of people throwing fireworks and bangers around randomly. There are stalls selling products such as the typical fried snacks porras, churros and buñuelos, as well as roast chestnuts or various trinkets.

History

It is thought that the Falles started in the Middle Ages, when artisans put out their broken artifacts and pieces of wood that they sorted during the winter then burnt them to celebrate the spring equinox.

Falles 2005 gallery

18/3/2005

Falla with Shrek. There are many such modern characters.	View down street	Falleres & fallers merrily beating drums	A paella being cooked on a wood fire in the middle of the road
Falla with old man holding young woman. Such risqué themes are typical.	Falla with painter and fat woman. This was as high as a building.	Falla with poor man	Part of falla with Egyptian funeral procession. In calle del convento de Jerusalén. 2nd prize, special section, Falles 2005.

19/3/2005

The children's falla in calle Poeta Altet.

The same falla with fireworks going off.

The same falla blazing.

The monumental Egyptian falla, just as the frame of its tallest tower collapses.

External links

• Official page for the Falles of Valencia, Spain: http://www.fallas.com (You may have trouble viewing this site in any browser other than MSIE)
• History of Falles in English: http://www.fallas.com/historia/ingles.htm
• A complete guide, in English, to Fallas, including a daily timetable: http://www.thisisvalencia.com/fallas1.html