Once a year the city of Valencia does its level best to blow itself up to celebrate the arrival of spring. The festival is called Las Fallas and includes a full week of daily fireworks barrages (mascletà) in the central plaza, parades, and parties all leading up up to St. Joseph’s day on March 19th. The main attraction are the fallas, huge figures and scenes – some towering several stories high – made of flammable wax, wood, plaster, and cardboard, and mounted on a base of firecrackers and fireworks. Hundreds of neighborhood organizations (casals) within the city each construct a falla for display in the streets or squares, and each gets a parade before being put in place. The designs get bigger and more complex every year as artisans attempt to outdo each other, and include everything from fairytale scenes to satirical political jabs; take a look at Flickr’s fallas tag to get an idea. On the night of the 19th, each display is torched in a huge bonfire, with the best falla of the year incinerated last. Just imagine if Burning Man’s climactic burn were wedged into narrow medieval streets, instead of taking place in the relatively fire-proof expanse of the Nevada desert, see user sacasonrisas’ video from last year’s festival if you don’t believe me:



– Fallas de Valencia (Official Site)
– Fallas (Wikipedia)
– Tagged: Fire