Valencia travel log - Behind the scenes of Las Fallas - trying to understand this noisy, crazy festival :)

I did a little bit of research about the festival we landed in, Las Fallas, to try to understand what's this all about behind the ever present petards and firecrackers exploding everywhere, anytime.

Las Fallas - Behind the scenes

"Fallas" means fires.

The huge statues made of papier maches or cardboard are called "ninots".

Here are a few examples:

At the end of the festival all the ninots are set on fire except one that is saved by popular vote and moved to a Ninots Museum.

For more than a hundred years Valencians have been building these huge statues and displayed them in hundreds of places in the city. Through these ninots the artists express a theme, a concern, a critique towards a current situation or event, be it political, sports related, movie stars or something else.

Each statue has an explanation, a frame in which to look at it to understand it (if you can read Spanish and understand it, that is :)

The fascinating part for me is the work that happens to create these ninots.

They are the result of the collaborative work of thousands of people. Each community chooses its theme for the ninot they will create and contributes to it. Sculptors, painters, architects, craftsmen and women work for a whole year to create them. The City Council is very supportive of all the activities needed to prepare and organise the Fallas.

On the other hand there are the beautiful dresses, jewellery and intricate hairdos that the women of Valencia wear during the parades. From what I understood there is a beauty contest and the most beautiful one is chosen and awarded, she becomes something like the Queen of the Fallas for the next year.

The fabrics of the dresses are manually made respecting the ancient tradition. Intricate embroidery is added. Again, a whole lot of work for many people before they even get to the tailor to be transformed into beautiful dresses.

Here are a few examples out of the thousands of women and little girls parading the streets:

The same for goes for the jewellery and the work needed for the specific hairdos.

Then there are the marching bands who need to prepare for the event.

** An entire community has work to do and gets stronger, tighter and richer because everyone works toward the same goal.

The affluence of tourists during the festival brings "mucho trabajo" (a lot of business) to every hotel, hostel, coffee shop, bar, restaurant or street food stand in Valencia. And probably to all the other shops, like clothing or shoes shops.

So when you look at Las Fallas from this point of view, understanding a bit of what goes on the whole year before the event happens you don't find it as strange as I did when I landed here in complete and utter ignorance.

Now, a bit more about the petards and firecrackers that are exploding all the time, everywhere.

The City Hall organises a fire works event every day at 14:00 for the entire duration of the Fallas. Because the show takes place in the middle of the day I was super intrigued: "Why would anyone do this when it's still light, there's no point!"

Specialists in pyrotechnics lay the fireworks in a specific way so that they create some kind of a music. Then thousands of people gather around and they just stop and listen to the fireworks even if they can't see them. We heard the show of today by chance and you can have an idea about what it looks and sounds like if you watch the video @dragosroua posted recently. It's quite an unique experience.

These are a few snapshots of the workers cleaning the ground right after the show:

Anyways, after having all this info about what's going on behind the Las Fallas I started to enjoy my stay here even more.

Yes, even the petards that are randomly thrown everywhere by everyone. I use them as a reminder to be present in every moment and not let my mind drift away. If that happens, a petard will "wake me up" for sure :)))

That's it for today, I'll come back with more fun & weird & useful & interesting stuff about Valencia soon.

Namaste

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Hi, I'm Raluca. Freelance copywriter, certified Hatha Yoga Teacher 200H. I have an educational background in communication and psychology. You can find me mainly on my blog at BeingRaluca where I write about communication, relationships, listening, sexuality and many more. Here on Steemit you can follow me @raluca.