Las Fallas!

This weekend in Valencia for Las Fallas was great!

I got to see and catch up with friends who I haven't seen in a few months, experience a new city on the northern side of the country, and I got to be part of one of Spain's biggest celebrations!

Check out my previous entry for a little background on what Las Fallas is (pronounced; las FAI-yas)

I am in love with the Valencian Falleras and Falleros (what they call people that wear the traditional Valencian dress)

The pyrotechnics show was deafening, but really unique!

The ninots were breath taking! 

The calles iluminadas were equally as impressive and the show they put on each night to light the streets up is amazing!

The fireworks were spectacular!

The crowds were insane - forget all about personal space or getting down a block in less than 20 minutes 

We did so much walking and crowd maneuvering, I'm sure I'll be feeling the burn for days!

But it was wonderful! I'm so glad I went and got to be part of the Spanish party atmosphere and see how down and durty the Valencianos can get!

I was so fascinated with the dresses of the Falleras because they are so immensely different than the typical Andalucian dress!

Typical Andalucian dress

Typical Valenciano dress

   

As you can see, the two styles are very different

The little falleras

The little falleros

So adorable!

I adore these dresses!
They are so elegant, and elaborate with over 20 pieces to complete the outfit;
a lot of time and effort goes into getting it all together!

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Every day during Fallas at 14:00 (2pm) in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento there is a pyrotechnics show called the Mascletà. And each day hundreds of thousands of people pile into this square to become one decible more deaf and admire the pyrotechnics.

While it was amazing, I'd definitely recommend only going once because, either way, you can hear it from just about anywhere in the city because it's so freaking loud! Plus getting anywhere near the square is a 30 minute adventure of squeezing through groups of stationary people who are drinking, smoking, talking loudly, not moving for you, or trying to push you out of their way so they can get past. Meanwhile on a regualar day it should take you less than 4 minutes to walk from one side of the block to the other.

WARNING: if you want to watch the video turn your volume down to 5; THIS IS NOT A JOKE it is super dee duper loud!

The Mascleta, Saturday March 17, 2012

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The ninots (in case you forgot, are the big floats) were simply incredible!

With a falla on practically every other street corner throughout the city it is nearly impossible to see them all! Some are more impressive and grander than others.

And with each big falla there is a smaller one right next to it put together by the same group of people; these smaller ninots don't have to be directly related to the topic of the big float.

Some of my favorites grande fallas:

One depicting fairy tale characters

As you can see the dragon holding the knight, and Rapunzel in her tower on the right with her golden locks dripping out,

The other side of the Fairy tale falla;
From Gulliver's Travels you can see the giant being tied down,
to the right you can see parts of the Genie and Aladdin, and up above them you can see
the big bushy tale of the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood (who is there too,
but all you can see of her in this picture is her red and white stripped stockings) 

Many of the fallas included depictions of political figures (in a not so nice way) sprinkled in among the beautiful creations.

Others included funny plays on social issues, like acceptance, gender roles through the means of childrens toys and stories and portraying and how their messages can affect or change society.

I thought this was was hilarious and a great example of how outrageous some of these ninots are!

((And yes, it's exactly what it looks like hahaha))

A couple of the smaller ninots

And my absolute favorite

Just stunning

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The calle iluminada display at 20:00 (8pm) was incredible! So ginormous and beautiful, the whole street was filled with hundreds of people watching the 20 minute music and light show

Check out the hoards of people that crowded the streets for no less than an hour before the show started!
And we were right in the center!

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And it doesn't matter how many times I've seen fireworks, I'm still always 600% amazed at how beautiful they are and how big bright and colorful they are!

What a beautiful celebration; It's too bad I couldn't take off until Tuesday to watch the burning of the fallas at midnight. Darn 4 day work week during the wrong part of the week!