Valencia, home of paella!
Hundreds of thousands of people filling the streets. Bottle rockets popping and screeching on every corner. 30-foot-tall statues that look like they wandered out of cartoons. The smell of churros drifting from striped tents and of paella coming from restaurants. Kids running around with sparklers. Dozens of parades made up of people dressed in traditional Valencian clothing. A midday pyrotechnic show that shakes the very earth beneath you. Plazas filled with music, and people dancing late into the night underneath a sky full of fireworks. Put it all together, and you’ve got the festival of Las Fallas. Throw 165 international students who are studying in Zaragoza into the mix, and you’ve got an amazing whirlwind of a day that will live on in my heart forever.
My favorite Ninot. Stood well over 30 feet and was absolutely beautiful.
Las Fallas is a massive five-day festival that takes place each year in Valencia, on the northeast coast of Spain (about a 4 hour bus ride from Zaragoza. We packed three buses full of students to go down to enjoy the celebration!) The festival celebrates two key events: the beginning of Spring and the celebration of Saint Joseph, (the carpenter who was Jesus’ Earthly father). It’s essentially a pyromaniac’s dream – the name “falla” derives from the Latin word for torch, and the celebration certainly lives up to the name. Not only does the sound of firecrackers continue endlessly throughout the city from dawn till dusk, but the 30-foot-high statues (called Ninots) that are created by each neighborhood during the course of the year are burned as a symbol of cleansing and deeply rooted tradition. During the middle ages, at the start of the spring equinox, farmers would burn the old wood from the winter in large bonfires. Over the centuries, the tradition has evolved into the construction of the elaborate Ninots, many of them with political or historical themes. It’s kind of a shame that they burn them, in my opinion, because many of the Ninots are incredible to look at. However, during Las Fallas, the city of Valencia essentially becomes a hub for dozens of massive bonfires, and it’s a spectacle that’s anticipated all over Europe as one of the most unique and breathtaking celebrations in Spain.
Girls dressed in the traditional Valencian costumes for Las Fallas
Along with the Ninots and the stunning pyrotechnics, the traditional element of the celebration that I found to be most beautiful were the miniature parades that wound through the city during the better part of the afternoon. Made up of anywhere between 10 and 100 people, these little processions are composed of men, women, and children dressed in traditional Valencian clothing from different important eras in Valencia’s history. Each outfit is unique, and appears almost as its own work of art. The parades are tailed by small groups of drummers and trumpeters, and could be heard and seen on every street in the city during the hours before sundown. The dresses especially reminded me of the kind of thing you might see a Disney Princess wearing (if there was ever a Spanish Disney Princess), and just added an extra dose of fantasy to the already dream-like atmosphere of the festival.
The Valpo kids! (And a classic photobomb from our friend from the UK...)
I think what I love most about festivals (because, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I also fell in love with the Fiesta de San Valero in Zaragoza) is the way in which the community rallies to celebrate together. Yes, we do have our holidays and celebrations in the United States, but there’s something in the air here that is so rich and invigorating, and it buzzes throughout the people in the city with an energy all of its own. Maybe it’s the element of larger-than-life fantasy, or maybe it’s the tradition. Maybe it’s just the fumes from all the sulfur in the fireworks. Either way, Las Fallas especially has got a life of its own, and it’s beautiful to be a part of. Tourists from all over the world walk side by side with locals, thousands of people of all ages and races marvel together at the sights, sounds, and smells of it all, and for just a moment, you’re allowed a glimpse of a world in which our differences are overlooked and we are simply allowed to enjoy the beauty of community and tradition. It’s a deeply moving thing, and is an experience that I am so grateful to have had alongside my friends from all over the globe.
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