"Burning the artwork" - Fallas in Valencia


Dear citizens of the world!

Fire seems to play a central role in many festivals in Spain -- noise is a given.

The Fallas (pronounced FAIyas) of Valencia is a Spring celebration in late March where more than 400 pieces of art (Fallas) are created in the plazas and streets. On the last night, all are burned at midnight; all except the best one which gets a pardon and goes off to a museum.

This was my first year going to the festival. We had all afternoon to walk around and look at some of the main "fallas" before watching one burn at midnight.


A detail of Charlie...


One of the top Fallas statues... hard to believe it is paper...

While all this is going on, there is an incredible amount of noise. There are thousands of people -- mostly young children -- setting off loud firecrackers. A terrorist attack could happen just down the street and nobody would notice. I jumped out of my skin more than once.

A small kid being "indoctrinated" into the world of BOOM!


The mermaid that caught Nemo...

This Falla was huge! More like a stadium...

Just look at the size of it compared to the people!

A detail of one of the "lovers" from this Falla...

The last Falla we visited...minutes before midnight...

The same Falla a few seconds later...Burn, Burn, let it burn!

All in all it was an interesting experience, but I do not recommend it for people with heart problems!

In the next post I will show some pictures of the "funny" satyrical side of the festivities...

The United Statesian

Popular posts from this blog

Neck exercises for Long Covid-- Part Deux

A POTS/OI at-home, easy, free, safe rehab program hypothesis:

The Good and Bad Effects of Nicotine on the Brain and Body, from Neuroscience-Broscientist Andrew Huberman Ph.D. (Video/Podcast)