Valencia
Las Fallas, declared Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2016, are the great party in Cap i Casal, but also in the majority of towns in the Valencian province
![[Img #64765]](upload/img/periodico/img_64765.jpg)
For several days, the streets of València, Alzira, Xàtiva, Torrent, Cullera, Gandia,.... and up to 500 other towns, are filled with fiesta, traditional music to the sound of the “dolçaina” and “tabalet”, the smell of fireworks and ephemeral art in the form of the Fallas Monuments to welcome Spring.
Although there will be fallas events throughout March (“mascletas”, Exhibitions of the Ninots,...) it is from the 15th to the 19th March when the main events happen which define the fiesta: from the “planta” to the “crema”, through the Fireworks Night, the offering to the Virgin, the Fire Cavalcade and the traditional “awakenings”.
The spark which started it all
The origin of the Fallas goes back to the ancient tradition of the city’s carpenters, who in honour of their patron Saint Joseph and on the eve of his festival – the 19th March – burnt the old stuff in front of their workshops, together with the wooden equipment which they used to raise the lamps, known as “parots”, by which they worked during the winter months.
Other historians give the fiesta a more ancient origin, defending the cult of fire as a traditional pagan ritual. According to them, the Fallas are an evolution of the ancestral ritual which announced the arrival of Spring.
Fallas, outside Valencia
Some towns in Castellón and Alicante also celebrate the fallas fiestas, among the best known for doing this are Benicarló, Almenara, Burriana, La Vall d’Uixó, Segorbe and Soneja in Castellón; Dénia, Calpe, Elda, Pego and Benidorm, in Alicante.
Portal Oficial de Turismo Comunitat Valenciana – Boletin 723 – 2018-03-01
For several days, the streets of València, Alzira, Xàtiva, Torrent, Cullera, Gandia,.... and up to 500 other towns, are filled with fiesta, traditional music to the sound of the “dolçaina” and “tabalet”, the smell of fireworks and ephemeral art in the form of the Fallas Monuments to welcome Spring.
Although there will be fallas events throughout March (“mascletas”, Exhibitions of the Ninots,...) it is from the 15th to the 19th March when the main events happen which define the fiesta: from the “planta” to the “crema”, through the Fireworks Night, the offering to the Virgin, the Fire Cavalcade and the traditional “awakenings”.
The spark which started it all
The origin of the Fallas goes back to the ancient tradition of the city’s carpenters, who in honour of their patron Saint Joseph and on the eve of his festival – the 19th March – burnt the old stuff in front of their workshops, together with the wooden equipment which they used to raise the lamps, known as “parots”, by which they worked during the winter months.
Other historians give the fiesta a more ancient origin, defending the cult of fire as a traditional pagan ritual. According to them, the Fallas are an evolution of the ancestral ritual which announced the arrival of Spring.
Fallas, outside Valencia
Some towns in Castellón and Alicante also celebrate the fallas fiestas, among the best known for doing this are Benicarló, Almenara, Burriana, La Vall d’Uixó, Segorbe and Soneja in Castellón; Dénia, Calpe, Elda, Pego and Benidorm, in Alicante.
Portal Oficial de Turismo Comunitat Valenciana – Boletin 723 – 2018-03-01
