No, that does
not say phallus. Las Fallas (pronounced like fa-yahs) is a celebration that occurs throughout the week leading up to March 19 held in Valencia and surrounding towns in Spain. People create (and sometimes spend an entire year) building these huge colorful, beautiful, and detailed sculptures that go on display throughout the city. In the past they were made from wax covered with cloth until recently when the artists started to use a paper "concrete" built up around a wooden frame. They are technically called
ninots, which is Catalán for doll (Catalán is one of the four major languages spoken in Spain. Ha, bet you thought everyone in Spain spoke Spanish. Nope. ;D) Some are a few feet tall, others can be upwards of 8 whole stories. And knowing that they were created by hand makes it so much more awe-inspiring. Here are some of the pictures of the
ninots from this year.
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| This was one of the largest ninots, at about 7-8 stories. |
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| This was the largest of the fallas, at about 10 stories |
When I first got off the bus in Valencia there was a huge crowd of people waiting for the yearly daytime fireworks show to start at 2 pm, and it was hard to get a good spot, and I ended up just barely around the corner of a building, so I wasn't really able to see them well. Which wasn't a problem really, because these fireworks weren't the colorful kind, they were purely for sound. Let me tell you one thing, Spaniards know how to do their fireworks. Although it is a little bit more... unsafe than in the States just because of the proximity of the people to the launch area, but that's not too big of a deal. Anyways, this was the loudest. fireworks display I have ever heard in my life. I video recorded the ending when it was super loud, but the camera can't do it justice. After the end there was so much smoke that you couldn't even see through it until a few minutes later when it started to clear out and left most of the downtown area covered in a thick haze for like 10 minutes. Crazy stuff.
And speaking of fireworks, there were fire crackers. Lots and lots of firecrackers. Little kids, teens, and adults all had bags/boxes of firecrackers and they would walk around the city randomly lighting them. There was literally not a silent moment, it was a
constant barrage of firecrackers. And not all of them were your average tame firecrackers mind you... some of these suckers were the size of D batteries and left you half deaf after they exploded. There was a particularly annoying group of little kids that actually threw firecrackers at Alisa and me while we were trying to sit having lunch, and Alisa actually got burned a little by one of them, or was at least hit with its shrapnel. I ended up yelling at them to go to hell, knowing they probably wouldn't understand me because I was too mad to Spanish.
Anyways, back to the ninots. They were soooo beautiful, and the paintwork on some of them was just unbelievable. Everyone's (least) favorite fascist even made a few appearances.
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| To the right, out of frame, is a scene representing the Brexit, and a caption underneath Trump reads: Riding his golden float, Trump enjoys the show of the European debacle, which doesn't matter to him at all. |
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| This one I can't translate; anyone know Catalán? |
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The very small sign next to his right leg reads:
Instructions to build the wall:
1 - Buy the world's supply of bricks
2 - Make México pay for it
3 - Make Mexican workers build it
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He's basically the laughingstock of the world. Seeing how much time people spend making these, it would be a huge shame if something happened and they broke. Or worse, get burned down by some drunk and their lighter. But, that's exactly what happens. Minus the drunk. Surprise! The whole point here is to
burn the ninots after they go on display. Didn't see that one coming, did ya? Yes it's sad, but so awesome at the same time. There is a large central ninot (the tall torch-looking one) that gets burned down at 1 am, and the smaller ninots get burned an hour before all at the same time, so you have to choose one of them to watch burn, and we chose the dragon. There was a lot of prep work before it went up in flames, but once it did it was over fast, and it got hot. Realllly hot. This ninot was about 4 stories tall and the crowd started no more than 8-10 yards away, which is where I was, and by the time I finished recording the majority of the burning, my hands were sooooo hot it was hard to keep going, but it was so awesome.
Then after that the big one in the center of the Plaza del ayuntamiento (the central government square) went up in flames after a lengthy pyrotechnic display, but even 100 yards away you could feel the heat.
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| What used to look like a big wooden torch |
All in all it was a crazy night, but really sweet at the same time. I definitely wouldn't go back again, just because I had to be up and out of the house for over 26 hours because I went on a trip with an exchange student travel company, and some parts were just a little too crazy. But it's definitely worth going to once. So, that's that, I hope you've enjoyed!
