Las Fallas History
Las Fallas [pronounced fayers] is Valencia's biggest festival, held during March each year. Fallas derives from the Latin word ' facula' meaning fire stick or torch and has been going on since the 18th century.

It began as just one part of the celebrations held for St. Joseph 's Day each March 19th . St. Joseph [St. Jose as the Spanish say] is the Spanish saint of carpentry. Traditionally, d uring the morning of the 18th March, rag dolls were strung across city streets from window to window, or small platforms were set up against walls displaying one or two figures (ninots) that referred to an event or to certain individuals that were particularly deserving of public derision. Throughout the day, children and young people collected objects to be burnt on bonfires called Fallas. All were burnt on the eve of St. Joseph's Day in the midst of much celebration.

Its origin is also connected with the pagan celebration of the spring equinox where craftsman would extend their working hours by using a light perched on a stand.

The first documentation found concerning the Fallas was an official letter sent to the mayor of the city of Valencia prohibiting the placing of monuments (especially of a theatrical nature) in narrow streets close to facades. This measure adopted by the city's police for the purpose of fire prevention led the inhabitants to set up their Fallas only in wide streets or at crossroads and in squares and, unexpectedly, led in the long term to an important transformation. Although the Fallas continued to have a horizontal, theatrical structure made up of two parts (a platform and a scene arranged on it), they started to be placed on wheels so that they could be moved to the centre of a street or square. As they were no longer placed against a wall, the design changed to make it possible to view them from all sides. This created much greater freedom of construction and invited the inclusion of messages all round them.

The Fallas these days consists of different committees [Falleros] who pull together to make amazing cartoon floats to display throughout the city. For a long time the term Falla was used indistinctly for all things associated with burning (that is, the torches, bonfires, rag dolls as well as the Falla platforms) but gradually the term came to be restricted to each one of the gigantic, sculpted structures of cardboard, wood and sometimes cork, which humorously portray the most relevant current events and personalities. These Fallas gave rise to great expectation and the local inhabitants came en masse to view them.

Each Falla is made up of many 'ninots' [the individual characters that are put together to create the full Falla]. At the beginning of February, each Committee donates its best ëninot' (just one) to a collective exhibition which the public then vote for the ninot that he or she likes best: whether because of its originality or its design.

On the eve of the 15th March the votes are added up and the ninot with the largest number of votes is saved from the flames. This is called the 'ninot indultat' (reprieved figurine) and will have the honour of being the only ninot in all of Valencia that will not burn on the night of the 19th March & is then displayed in the Fallas Museum.

The Ultimate Festival Period
Whilst there are Fallas festivities going on all through March the key festival dates, the heart and soul of the Fallas festival, is the 15-19 th March. Throughout these 5 days there are ongoing parades, marching bands, traditional costumes, concerts, beauty pageants, bull fights & incredible fireworks displays.

It is no exaggeration to say that almost every street corner has its own Falla and Fallas commission. During the festivities, Valencian women wear their best traditional clothes and parade through the streets in colourful pageantry under their Falla's standards and to the sound of regional music.

At midday, each Falla stages its own sound fireworks display, harmonizing the booming sounds of rockets with the smell of gunpowder. At night there are spectacular fireworks displays that brighten up the night time sky. Around each Falla there are endless celebrations and there is no time for sleep. It is fiesta time for five whole days.

The flower offering to the patron saint of Valencia, Our Lady of the Forsaken, is staged on two consecutive days. Thousands and thousands of flowers are placed over a wooden structure that serves as the framework upon which her image is formed. This is located in front of the Basilica and the entire Plaza is perfumed with the fragrance of endless bouquets of flowers. Almost 100,000 Valencians take part in the procession. And of course, every day at five o'clock in the afternoon there is an important bullfight within the framework of the March bullfighting fair.

On the night of the 19th, Valencians burn down their creations, saving only the ëninot indultat' which is to become a museum piece. The children's Fallas are burnt at ten in the evening, with the exception of the first prize in the children's category, which is set alight at ten thirty, and the city council children's Falla, which goes up in flames at eleven. At midnight, preceded by a grand fireworks display, the large Fallas are set to the torch.

The entire city is filled with flaming Fallas. At twelve thirty the first prize Falla is burnt and at 1am the Falla in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento is set alight, symbolically finishing for another whole year this semi-pagan, semi-patriotic, semi-religious fiesta that stirs the hearts of the Valencians.