Why Fallas Fiesta 2020?

Lights, gunpowder, monuments, flowers, traditional costumes, music, satire, emotions and a great deal of fun are the ingredients of a unique cocktail known as the Fallas Fiestas.

This is definitely a bucket list festival. The excitement and fear of watching 400 spectacular sculptures going up in flames in a beautiful coastal city may remind you of another Spanish festival: the Running of the Bulls. But this visual feast won’t have you running in the streets. It will have you grabbing your camera. It’s one of the most photogenic festivals in the world.

Fiery Evolution of Las Fallas:

Lighting fires has long been a way to kick off the start of spring. Long before lightbulbs, Valencian carpenters and artisans plied their trades under candlelight, using pieces of wood called parots as wick holders. Come spring, when sunlight replaced candlelight, the parots were burned. The pagan ritual merged with the church's commemoration of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the carpenters, and thus Las Fallas was born.

As time passed, traditions evolved. The parots took on human forms. Today, the effigies are dressed up in costumes: the larger ones are called fallas, the smaller, doll-like ones, ninot. Over time, the ninots grew in both size and detail, as did the cartoonish fallas, which typically depict satirical scenes and current events. Polystyrene replaced the fallas’ papier mâché-covered wooden frames, allowing them structures of up to 30 meters (100 feet). During the grand finale, all works end up in a blaze, except for one to be preserved in the Museo Fallero as a symbol of prosperity.

The Ear-Splitting Scene:

Don’t be surprised if you don’t get much sleep during Las Fallas. Your daily alarm clock is any one of a number of marching brass bands whose sole purpose is to make sure that you don’t over-doze. Expect your wake up call to start at around 8am.