OTP’s Guide to the Fire Festival of Las Fallas (A Pyromaniacs Dream)
Photo by: Richard Milnes
Need your pyro fix and Burning Man, Guy Fawkes and Amori Nebuta just aren’t doing the trick? Get yourself to Valencia, Spain for Las Fallas instead—a rip roarin’ crazy time with enough explosions and flames to calm your insatiable fire fiend twitches.
Photo by: Catholic Fire
Wait, why are we burning stuff? In true Catholic-Spanish tradition, the boozing, burning and general debauchery of Las Falls is dedicated to a saint. This one’s for St. Joseph, patron saint of carpenters. Back in the day when spring approached and nights got shorter, oil lamps became unnecessary and were disposed of alongside scrap wood in giant bonfires. The Catholic Church urged this tradition to coincide with St. Joseph’s Day and every year (rain or shine and economic crisis be damned) shit goes up in flames beginning on March 15, and concludes in a blaze of glory at midnight on March 19.
The fallas are what get burned at the end. Over the years, those crappy little piles of lanterns and scrap wood have been transformed into massive, completely-combustible structures that people meticulously design and craft (only to destroy shortly thereafter). These days, they measure up to 8 stories tall, can have up to 200 figures (ninots) and can cost thousands of Euros. The Fallero Association Nou Campanar holds the record of 900,000€ for its 2010 falla. Don’t get your fiscally responsible panties in a bunch, this isn’t why Spain’s economy is in the shitter. The fallas are privately funded by elite members of fallero groups who get prizes and bragging rights for their submissions. A large part of the public spectacle is just checking out the fallas created for the festival. Satirical, witty and sometimes downright pornographic, these doomed structures often poke fun at current figures like Obama, Sarkosy, and Michael Jackson and burning or not, are a sight to be seen.
Photo by: Las Fallas Festival
Don’t miss a single spark by keeping yourself in the know of the Fallas events. Peep this cheat-sheet, and remember that in Valencia they speak a wacky version of Catalán—kind of Spanish, kind of French, and all damn confusing.
La Plantà: On the 15, the Fallas are planted, or set up. It’s impressive to see these huge masses of paper-mâché, wood and cardboard going up, knowing that they’ll all be engulfed by flames about four days later.
Photo by: Mark Massey
La Mascletà: Daily fireworks begin at 2pm at the city hall. Yes, the Spaniards understand you can’t see the colors in broad daylight; these puppies are all about the rhythm and bone-shaking sound.
Fuegos artificiales: To give the sound back its sparkle, nightly fireworks go off on the riverbed of La Turia, around midnight. The fallas draw the best pyro-technicians in the world, and like a virgin, they get better every time.
Nit de Foc: On the 18, the final fireworks display at the river is guaranteed to bring life-altering explosions.
Cabalgata del fuego: Fire parade. ‘Nuff said.
Beginning on the 16th, you will be blasted awake at the ass-crack of dawn by fireworks and marching bands. Rub the sleep from your eyes and spend the afternoon hunting down the coolest fallas in the city, then plan on finding food and booze in time to see the nightly fireworks at the riverbed. After that, party till the wee hours of the morning in public squares, bars and discos. While all this mess is going down, the procession for the Virgin Mary will be ripping through town with hordes of Princess-Leia wannabes carrying bouquets of flowers, a contest of lights (think cracked-out Christmas) and the quintessential bullfights will be fightin’. Basically, you will run out of fuel before you run out of things to do.
Photo by: Topdeck Travel
Some standing just feet away from very important buildings, you don’t want to miss La Cremà, the artistically-choreographed fireworks displays-turning-into-bonfires that are the highlight and the event’s finale. Pick the falla you want to see burn the most, bring some agua de Valencia (not water), and get there early to watch the preparations. The falla gets stuffed to capacity with fireworks of every variety so you can watch the arsonist’s dream come to life. One isn’t enough? Pick one of the fallas from the “categoría especial,” then follow the firefighters around. There’s not enough bomberos to burn everything at once, so you’re guaranteed at least 3 or 4 cremations.
In the good Spanish style of partying till dawn—augmented by music, fireworks, marching bands and crazy kids throwing around noisemakers to rouse you from your hangover—this festival is incredibly insomniac-friendly. When exhaustion hits so hard that you can sleep through a sonic boom, try resting your head at one of the Hôme Hostels. Hôme Backpackers has big dorms and Hôme Youth Hostel has smaller rooms for 2-4 people. Both are next to plazas where free bands and DJs keep it going all night and host a free paella party on a sunny roof to help ease the after-party aches. At quirky Nest Hostels (Purple or Red) the artsy decor, huge kitchens and social events might be just what the doctor ordered.
Let’s break it down: Las Fallas is quite possibly the best party in a country known to throw the best parties. Period. Now light the fire under your ass and don’t be a burnout! You’ve got nothing to lose but your eyebrows.
Traveling is my only healthy addiction. The more time I spend living abroad, the longer the list gets of places I need to visit and adventures I want to undertake.
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Nice Info…I Like That…:D