Fallas are a Valencian tradition which celebrates Saint Joseph's Day (19 March) in Valencia, Spain.

Each neighbourhood of the city has an organized group of people, the Casal faller, that works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the famous speciality paella, and of course much music and laughter. Each casal faller produces a construction known as a falla which is eventually burnt. A casal faller is also known as a comisión fallera.

Falles & ninots

Formerly, much time would also be spent at the Casal Faller preparing the ninots (Valencian for puppets or dolls). During the week leading up to 19 March, each group takes its ninot out for a grand parade, and then mounts it, each on its own elaborate firecracker-filled cardboard and papier-mâché artistic monument in a street of the given neighborhood. This whole assembly is a falla.

The ninots and their falles are developed according to an agreed upon theme that was, and continues to be a satirical jab at anything or anyone unlucky enough to draw the attention of the critical eyes of the fallers — the celebrants themselves. In modern times, the whole two week long festival has spawned a huge local industry, to the point that an entire suburban area has been designated the City of Falles — Ciutat fallera. Here, crews of artists and artisans, sculptors, painters, and many others all spend months producing elaborate constructions, richly absurd paper and wax, wood and styrofoam tableaux towering up to five stories, composed of fanciful figures in outrageous poses arranged in gravity-defying architecture, each produced at the direction of the many individual neighbourhood Casals faller who vie with each to attract the best artists, and then to create the most outrageous monument to their target. There are more than 500 different falles in Valencia, including those of other towns in the Land of Valencia.

During Falles, many people from their casal faller dress in the regional costumes from different eras of Valencia's history — the fife and drum are frequently heard, as most of the different casals fallers have their own traditional bands.

Although the Falles are a very traditional event and many participants dress in mediaeval clothing, the ninots for 2005 included such modern characters as Shrek and George W. Bush.

Events During Fallas

The days and nights in Valencia are one running party during the two weeks of Falles. There are processions galore — historical processions, religious processions, and hysterical processions. The restaurants spill out to the streets. Explosions can be heard all day long and sporadically through the night. Foreigners may be surprised to see everyone from small children to elderly gentlemen throwing fireworks and bangers in the streets, which are littered with pyrotechnical débris.

La Desperta

Each day of of falles begins at 8am with la despertà ("the wake-up call"). Brass bands will appear from the casals and begin to march down every road playing lively music. Close behind them are the fallers throwing large firecrackers in the street as they go (large enough to set off nearby car alarms, which will add their sirens to the bedlam!).

La Mascletà

Sometime around 2pm there is the mascletà (an explosive display of the concussive effects of co-ordinated firecracker and fireworks barrages) in each neighbourhood; the main attraction is the municipal Mascleta in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament where the great pyrotecnic masters compete for the honour of providing the final Mascleta of the fiestas (on March 19th). Huge crowds gather from all corners of the city to see this event (go early!). At 2pm the clock will chime and one of the lovely maidens (dressed in her fallera finery) will call from the balcony of the City Hall, Senyor pirotècnic, pot començar la mascleta! ("Mr. Pyrotechnic, you may commence the Mascleta!"). Suddenly the square rips with a pyrotechnic display of a power rarely seen outside the battlefield. Louder is better as far as Valencians are concerned, and the masters don't disappoint them. For six or seven minutes hundreds of kilograms of flash powder is gradually detonated. The crowd rocks with each explosion and great billowing clouds of smoke rise as it builds to the finale. The final crescendo of noise will leave you stunned and senseless for several seconds, at which point a huge cheer goes up from the crowd and the people run forward to applaud the pyrotecnic masters as they bow to their fans.

Mascleta is a very Valencian activity, hugely popular with the Valencian people and found in very few other places in the world. Smaller neighbourhoods often have their own mascleta for saint days, for weddings and for other celebrations as well. In Valencia, any reason is a good reason for a Mascleta.

La Plantà

The Day of the 15th all of the fallas infantils are to be finished being constructed and later that night all of the fallas mayores are to be completed. If not, they face disqualification.

La Ofrenda

Each casual falla takes an offering of flowers to the virgin. This occurs all day on ther days of March 17th and March 18th. The virgin's body is then constructed with these flowers.

Los Castillos and La Nit de Foc

The nights of the 15, 16, 17, and 18th there is a fireworks display in the old riverbed in Valencia. Each night is progressively grander and the last is called La Nit de Foc, the night of fire.

La Cremà

On the final night of Falles, around midnight on March 19th, these falles are burnt as huge bonfires. This is known as the cremada or cremà, i.e. "the burning", and this is of course the climax and point of the whole event, and the reason why the constructions are called falles ("torches"). Traditionally, the falla near the town hall is burned last.

Each falla is adorned with fireworks which are lit first. The construction itself is lit either after or during these fireworks. Falles burn quite quickly, and the heat given off is felt by all around. The heat from the larger ones often drives the crowd back a couple of metres, even though they are already behind barriers that the fire brigade has set several metres away from the construction. In narrower streets, the heat scorches the surrounding buildings, and the firemen douse the façades, window blinds, street signs, etc. with their hoses in order to stop them catching fire or melting, from the beginning of the cremà until it cools down after several minutes.

Away from the falles, there are people going crazy through the streets, with the city resembling an open-air nightclub, except that instead of music there is the occasionally deafening sound of people throwing fireworks and bangers around randomly. There are stalls selling products such as the typical fried snacks porras, churros and buñuelos, as well as roast chestnuts or various trinkets.

Find more information visiting website Las Fallas: www.fallas.com