Legend of the Fall(as) Part Two

Though we spent the majority of the time falla hunting and trying not to get deaf, we also managed to catch Flower Offering to Virgen de los Desamparados. This is held over 2 days and during the 2 days, the men and women dress up in their traditional dress, accompanied by their children (also dressed up in traditional wear) and parade through the city before finally converging on the Plaza de la Virgin to hand over flowers which will be affixed to the Virgin.

A robe of red, white and pink flowers carefully arranged

Lots of people gathering to in squares enjoying the festivities

Felt like the whole city was parting all week and had very festive feel to it all. Some of the processions have bands accompanying them and they will sometimes start dancing on the streets. We managed to catch some groups that were quite fun but we also saw some where some of the women looked quite grumpy. All in all, it was really interesting to watch and their traditional wear is so pretty!!! The little girls who are dressed up are the cutest to watch and there were some babies who were also all wrapped up and looked quite cute.

Parade down the main streets of Valencia

We went back to the Plaza over the next 2 days and it really looked quite amazing after the flowers are affixed onto the Virgin. Other than this, we also managed to catch a glimpse of the Holy Grail in the cathedral. Apparently the Vatican themselves have recognized this as the holy grail, so if you’re looking for the real thing, it’s here, no need to go all Indiana Jones or Da Vinci Code, lol...

The Holy Grail!!!

Finally, the night of the La Crema. We had already decided which one we wanted to go see burn, and since the children fallas were burnt first before the adult one, we decided to go see a children fallas in the centre of town. The stated time was 10pm but it started a little late as they had to set up the explosives and they also had some singing and stuff. They also took off some bits from the sculpture, we think those are the pieces they wanted to keep. The burning itself was quite amazing, the girl mayora will light a flare and it will then burn! Woohoo, really quite fun I must say. Though it was a children falla and we weren’t exactly super near, you can really feel the heat from the fire, 7^th month burning of hell money totally don’t beat this.

Before

After

After that, we made our way to our chosen adult falla. According to the program, the adult fallas were supposed to burn at 12 midnight so we staked out a place to sit and watch it burn. The mood was rather festive and most people were quite friendly though we were probably the only 2 Asian faces there. We sat and waited and waited and waited and waited and we almost went nuts waiting. There was also an idiot who threw a firecracker into the crowd, so we almost went deaf. We had originally planned to catch the final fireworks after our falla burnt but in the end, it was past the time and there wasn't even a glimmer of smoke from our falla yet!!! In the end, after lots and lots of waiting, the firefighters finally arrived to douse the buildings (the heat is so great, they have to do this to prevent the buildings nearby from catching fire). It was quite funny actually cos there was a guy who came out to move his plants into his house, lol... It also took them forever to remove the spotlights and then it finally start burning at 3am!!! We had waited almost 4 hours, goodness…. I don’t think I have ever waited so long for anything before, not even the Hello Kitty toys!

La Crema! Shot by shot!

It was quite amazing to watch the falla burn, the heat was so great I thought my eyebrows were burning too, and we were standing really far back I must say. Can't imagine how those who were right infront felt. In any case, the firefighters made sure you aren't too near the falla, they pushed the crowd back to prevent accidents from happening. Though we waited forever for the falla to start burning, we didn’t wait for it to finish burning before heading back to our hotel. We were just way too tired and we had to rush to Paris for our visa too. The next morning was a mad rush to get out of the hotel, so no luxury of sleeping in, sheesh... Some might feel its terrible to see all that money gone up in flames, but it's tradition to welcome the spring and burn away the unwanted past of the last year, its truly a wonderful experience. Would I go back for this festival again? Totally!!! (But with a better La Crema strategy)

Legend of the Fall(as)

While we were on our way to Valencia for Las Fallas (more about that below), we ended up in the town of Almeria as we needed a toilet break and CS was lured by a picture of grilled meat he saw by the roadside. It turned out to a totally correct decision as the pork ribs were absolutely delicious. There was only another table in the restaurant other than us but the food was so so yummy. Just look!!!

Charcoal grilled pork ribs!!!

We eventually arrived in Valencia after lots of driving and it was Fallas hunting from there onwards. The whole reason we were in Valencia was for the Fallas festival and not for the oranges (haha...), though they are really quite yummy. CS saw a picture of the festival in Rough Guides and since he’s actually a closet arsonist he just had to see this festival where they burn burn burn.

Structures taller than buildings!

Larger than life!

Smaller ones competing in kids categories

To give you some background information, according to Frommers, Las Fallas is supposed to have pagan origins where carpenters would throw out offcuts of wood into the street and set fire on them to welcome spring. It has evolved though into a huge festival where each neighbourhood will produce fallas and compete for the top prize. The festival itself is 2 weeks long but the city is most crowded in the two days leading up to March 19 when the fallas are "cremated" and the entire city goes up in flames (La Crema!). The fallas are usually made (some may costs up to $500K euros) according to a theme and are meant to be a satirical jab at anything from religion to politics and films to football. We saw quite a few fallas that poked fun at certain politicians and also the events that were taking place such as the protests taking place in the Middle East. During the 2 weeks, there are various events taking place and the whole city is just one big party.

the Comical..

the Dark..

the Beautiful.

One of the first things you have to know about Las Fallas is that during that period, kids and adults go crazy lighting firecrackers, petards (something that explodes and sounds like you are in a warzone) and borrachos (tubes which once ignited, move around in frantic thrusts, with a long tail of sparks coming out of them). The firecrackers and borrachos are fun but petards are seriously annoying cos its seriously loud. We had one thrown near us while we were waiting for La Crema (when they burn the falla) and I think I went deaf for the rest of the night.

How man has evolved from Adam to a bazooka wielding baboon.

We spent the four days in Valencia "fallas hunting" (as I call it) and it was quite fun. As all the fallas are burnt on March 19 and the 800+ fallas are spread all over the city, you have to look for one you liked so you can go camp there on the night of March 19 and see it burn. Some of the fallas were very impressive and we kept detouring from where we were going as we kept seeing fallas at every corner. The most amazing thing is that you turn one corner and there’s a falla, and then at another corner you see another one. They actually print a map which shows you where the top fallas are located, they also have smaller ones throughout which are not marked so it’s a bit of a treasure hunt.

Spanish theme?

Some of the fallas were quite amazing and you can actually pay to get up close to the falla. There was one we paid where you can actually go inside the falla and they even had performances by a student theatre group!!! Very cool. They also had a booklet which explains the various parts of the falla and what it symbolise which was rather interesting to read.

Hordes of people everywhere

Day and night

Other than fallas hunting, we also attended the other events held throughout the festival, one of them being the Mascleta where they set off fireworks in the afternoon at Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Yes its afternoon and you can’t actually see the fireworks but the point of the event is to hear the explosions and not see the fireworks. We had a good spot the first time we attended the Mascieta and during that period, everyone is silent and I mean everyone. It was quite magical actually. The best Mascieta is the last day of Las Fallas and I must say it was seriously good. While we were stuck in the middle of the street and not exactly near Plaza del Ayunmiento, the explosions were still great and definitely better than what we heard on the first day. Spaniards, just like us are also quite kiasu and people fill up Plaza del Ayunmiento quite early to secure a good spot just for this.

Amazed by the shear size and effort in building this art sculptures

Another event they have is the Castillo, which is fireworks at night. This was totally magical. The first two nights, we saw it from our hotel but we went downtown on the third night for the Nit de foc (Night of Fire Fireworks Display) and that was totally fantastic. It was held at 1.30am but there were so many people out, families, elderly couples, youngsters etc that it felt quite safe. It kinda felt like the whole city was out in full force, along with all the Spaniards from other cities. The fireworks lasted a good 15 minutes and it totally beats hands down any fireworks display in Singapore, even the ones during National Day Parade. They had all types of fireworks, ones that burst again after bursting, ones with different colors at one go, it was just spectacular. We didn’t take much pictures cos we were too busy staring at them in awe. We had to walk like mad to catch the metro back to our hotel afterwards but it was totally worth it. Oh one of the great things is that the metro runs 24 hours during Las Fallas (I think) and they had night buses so it was still easy to get back.

Awesome fireworks display

After all the pictures, can you guess which falla we went to watch burn? All will be revealed in the next entry, hehe…