Las Fallas
March 9, 2009 by Ivan Larcombe | 727 views | 2 Comments
Before Las Fallas: a first look at Valencia’s biggest festival
This is my first year in Spain’s 3rd largest city. I have never experienced Las Fallas and so what I can report on the subject is all quite theoretical; I have yet to live the experience. But my chance will come soon.
In fact, the Fallas are already underway. The opening ceremony (at which our little family of 3 was shamefully absent – blame the Spanish flu) was held on the 22nd of February. La Cridà, as it is called, marks the beginning of Valencia’s famous Fallas, but the real party doesn’t start until the 15th of March. We’ve been warned that the volume of life in the center of town is going up.
Irreverent Carpenters
I love the history of this Mediterranean festival for its basis in irreverence (a characteristic that I cherish in myself and others). Now, those of you who happen to know that this celebration culminates on March 19, Saint Joseph’s day, will be wondering just what is so deliciously cheeky about how the whole thing began. Let me explain.
Legend has it that the history of Las Fallas begins with medieval carpenters. During the short, winter days they, among others, used planks of wood known as parots to support the candles that they were forced to burn in order to see well enough to work their trade in the gloom. When the days began to lengthen enough to make these candles obsolete, in joyful welcoming of the spring, these carpenters would burn the parots.
Now, I ask you; what could be more irreverent than a carpenter burning a perfectly useful piece of wood?
Jesus’ Adoptive Father
The parots were eventually dressed up with other, more decorative, bits of debris before being consigned to the flames. At some point the Church stepped in and declared that this burning should take place on the 19th of March, the day of Saint Joseph. (He is after all, among other things, the patron Saint of carpenters.) Perhaps because of this official endorsement, the celebration took on increasing complexity and importance with the parots now made to resemble local and famous people and taking on a new name: ninot.
I’ve never associated Jesus’ adoptive father with springtime bonfires, but in Valencia this combination took hold to create what today is arguably the world’s loudest festival.
Friendly Warnings
It seems that since the beginning of the 20th Century, Las Fallas has been gaining strength. Today, thanks to new materials such as polyurethane and a mouldable soft cork, fallas (which are essentially either massive ninots or combinations of ninots that are burnt together) can reach 30 meters or more up to the sky before they are eventually laden with firecrackers and set alight. (Falla comes from the Latin word fax, meaning torch, by the way.)
But, as amazing as it may seem, the burning of the ninots isn’t the biggest bang that Las Fallas has to offer. That falls to, well, a really big bang.
Gunpowder is burning at the heart of Valencia’s unique festival. Both firecrackers and fireworks form a fundamental part of Las Fallas. The fireworks – fuegos artificiales – both open and close the weeks of events, but it’s the petardos – firecrackers – that characterize these celebrations. Time and time again I have received friendly warnings from my neighbours about how incredibly, unbelievably loud it is going to get. In fact, my downstairs neighbour just went to her parents’ house to sit this year out. She won’t be back until the 21st, when it’s all over.
More to Come
Next week, just as the real insanity is about to kick off, I’ll be back with more information about the structure of the events and the mayhem that envelops the city. The following week I hope to be recovered enough to give an actual first-hand report of what Las Fallas is all about.
In the meantime, you can take a look at some pictures here.
Salud!
Too excited to keep reading?
Go book your trip to see Las Fallas! I’ll be back next week with more information this incredible Spanish celebration.
And by the way, we offer take-out! Just sign up for our Eat In Valencia feed and you’ll get hot-off-the-press content sent right to your e-mail. No tip required!
Photo Credits:
Las Fallas – ninots by Fra Kushy
Las Fallas – Fallas 2008 by GJFamily
Las Fallas – fireworks by Stuart Chalmers
Ivan Larcombe – Bio
After years of experience in the hospitality trade focusing on restaurants and even the Canadian wine industry, Ivan thought that he had gained nothing but the certainty that these were not the career paths for him. Now he combines his first love, the written word, with all that he has learned over the years to approach food and wine from a very different perspective.
A recent, but devoted, arrival in Valencia, Ivan is working hard to learn and share everything there is to know about the gastronomical offering of this beautiful region.
Ivan can be contacted directly through his blog: http://www.ivaninvalencia.com/.
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