THE FALLES
Falles (in Valencian) or Fallas (in Spanish) are a Valencian
traditional celebration in praise of Saint Joseph in Valencia, Spain.
The term Falles refers to both the celebration and the monuments
created during the celebration. A number of towns in the Valencian
Community have similar celebrations inspired in the original one from
the city of Valencia.
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. Each casal
faller produces a construction known as a falla which is eventually
burnt. A casal faller is also known as a comissió fallera.
Falles & Ninots
Formerly, much time would also be spent at the Casal Faller preparing
the ninots (Catalan 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 Valencian Community.
During Falles, many people from their casal faller dress in the
regional and valencia costumes from different eras of Valencia's
history — the dolçaina and tabalet (a kind of Valencian 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 medieval clothing, the ninots for
2005 included such modern characters as Shrek and George W. Bush.
Events During Falles
The days and nights in Valencia are one running party during the five
days 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 Despertà
Each day of Falles begins at 5 am 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.
La Mascleta
The Mascletà, an explosive display
of the concussive effects of co-ordinated firecracker and fireworks
barrages, takes place in each neighbourhood at 2 pm every day of the
festival; the main event is the municipal Mascleta in the Plaça de
l'Ajuntament where the pyro technicians compete for the honour of
providing the final Mascleta of the fiestas (on March 19th). At 2 pm
the clock chimes and the Fallera Mayor (dressed in her fallera finery)
will call from the balcony of the City Hall, Senyor pirotècnic, pot
començar la "mascletà"! ("Mr. Pyrotechnic, you may commence the
Mascletà!"), and the Mascletà begins.
Mascletà is almost unique to Valencia, hugely popular with the
Valencian people and found in very few other places in the world.
Smaller neighbourhoods often hold their own mascleta for saint's days,
weddings and other celebrations.
La Plantà
The day of the 15th all of the falles infantils are to be finished
being constructed and later that night all of the falles mayores are
to be completed. If not, they face disqualification.
L'Ofrena floral
Each falla casal takes an offering of flowers to the virgin. This
occurs all day on their days of March 17th and March 18th. The
virgin's body is then constructed with these flowers.
Els Castells and La Nit del Foc
On the nights of the 15, 16, 17, and 18th there are firework
displays in the old riverbed in Valencia. Each night is progressively
grander and the last is called La Nit del 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 cremà,
i.e. "the burning", and this is of course the climax of the whole
event, and the reason why the constructions are called falles
("torches"). Traditionally, the falla in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament is
burned last.
Many neighbourhoods have a falla infantil (a children's falla, smaller
and without satirical themes), which is a few meters away from the
main one. This is burnt first, at 10 pm. The main neighbourhood falles
are burnt closer to midnight. The awesome falles in the city centre
often take longer. For example, in 2005, the fire brigade delayed the
burning of the Egyptian funeral falla in Carrer del Convent de
Jerusalem until 1.30 am, when they were sure they had all safety
concerns covered.
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 meters, even though they are already behind barriers that
the fire brigade has set several meters 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 porres, xurros and
bunyols, as well as roast chestnuts or various trinkets.
History
There are a few different theories regarding the origin of the Falles
festival. One theory suggests that the Falles started in the Middle
Ages, when artisans put out their broken artifacts and pieces of wood
that they sorted during the winter then burnt them to celebrate the
spring equinox. Valencian carpenters used planks of wood to hang their
candles on. These planks were known as parots. During the winter,
these were needed to provide light for the carpenters to work by. With
the coming of the Spring, they were no longer necessary, so they were
burned. With time, and the intervention of the Church, the date of the
burning of these parots was made to coincide with the celebration of
the festival of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the carpenters.
This tradition continued to change. The parot was given clothing so
that it looked like a person. Features identifiable with some
well-known person from the neighborhood were added as well. To collect
these materials, children went from house to house asking for Una
estoreta velleta (An old rug) to add to the parot. This became a
popular song that the children sang to gather all sorts of old
flammable furniture and utensils to burn in the bonfire with the parot.
These parots were the first ninots. With time, people of the
neighborhoods organized the process of the creation of the Falles and
monuments including various figures were born.
Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the Falles were tall
boxes with three or four wax dolls dressed in cloth clothing. This
changed when the creators began to use cardboard. The creation of the
Falle continues to evolve in modern day, when largest monuments are
made of polystyrene and soft cork easily molded with hot saws. These
techniques have allowed Falles to be created in excess of 30 meters.
Secció Especial
The Secció Especial is a group of the largest and most prestigious
falles commissions in the city of Valencia. In 2007, the group
consisted of 14 commissions. This class of falles was first started in
1942 and originally included the falles of Barques, Reina-Pau and
Plaça del Mercat. Currently, none of these are still in the group. The
commission that has most often participated in this group as of 2007
was Na Jordana, with 54 times. Winning the first prize in the Sección
Especial is the most prestiguous prize any falla can win. All other
falles fall into different classes that also award prizes with the
exception of the one erected by the town hall