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.
Festivals and Celebrations in Valencia
Valencia is known all over the world for its Fallas. These fiestas came into being to celebrate the arrival of spring by burning, and thus purifying, everything old and negative from the previous year. Today's Fallas are all this and much more. They are a whole culture in themselves and part of the way of life in Valencia. Las Fallas represent the Valencian character – love of art, spectacle, noise, gunpowder and the ephemeral.
Las Fallas surprise all visitors: for five days the streets are filled with true works of art made from papier-mâché. Complicated statues several metres high which seem to defy gravity. These satirical monuments are the fruit of the labours of the Falla artists, craftsmen who spend a whole year almost exclusively dedicated to their creations. However, on the night of March 19th, only four days after being planted, all the Fallas must burn – to the delight of Valencians, who comment on how well or badly their Falla burned down.
But many other fiestas are also held in Valencia. As in most Spanish cities, there are the religious fiestas dedicated to the patron saints, in this case San Vicente Martir, San Vicente Ferrer and the Virgen de los Desamparados. There is also a regional holiday on October 9th, as well as other fiestas throughout the year – Corpus Christi, the July Fair, Christmas and the Epiphany.
On January 22 Valencians celebrate their Patron's Day. Vincent was a young deacon martyred in Valencia in the year 304 by order of the emperor Diocletian, which aroused great fervor among the population. He was named Patron of the City.
On the second Sunday in May Valencia celebrates the festival of the Virgen de los Desamparados, Patroness of the city. There is great devotion to this Virgin whom Valencians affectionately call "La Geperudeta", in allusion to the slightly bent position that she adopts.
Valencia and its Mediterranean way of life makes a peculiar adaptation of the Holy Week rites. It is solemnly celebrated in the maritime towns where colorful processions parade with biblical characters and brotherhoods of grenadiers dressed in the style of the Napoleonic army.
The 9 de octubre celebrates the Region of Valencia Day, but also the feast of San Dionisio, traditionally considered the saint patron of lovers. During this day as custom marks, men gives their sweethearts a silk scarf which has inside a delicious assortment of sweet marzipan.
Prolonging Holy Week, altars are raised in the streets and squares of Valencia commemorating the festival of San Vicente Ferrer, patron saint of the Community canonized by Pope Calixto III. It is customary to visit his birthplace converted into a chapel.
The Corpus Christi celebration go back to 1355 in Valencia city. The Traslado de las Rocas takes place on Friday, in which those monumental and spectacular triumphal carriages, that are typical and exclusive to the Valencian celebration, are taken out of the house-museum.
July Fair at Valencia is a traditional and extensive programme of events that take place in emblematic areas of the city. This fair is quite old, it has been celebrated since 1871 and it is considered as a joyful event that allows both citizens and tourists to enjoy amazing events held in the warmth of the fresh summer nights.
Every year in Spain, on the last Wednesday of August more than 40,000 people, hungry for fun and fiesta, get roped into tomato throwing in the Tomatina de Buñol, a friendly battle in which more than 110 tons of ripe tomatoes fly through the air. Come and enjoy a fiesta that is unique in the world!
