No smoke without Falla: Valencia province is burning up as massive March fiestas finish
Thursday, March 20, 2014 @ 9:47 AM
VALENCIA'S famous Fallas fiesta marking the start of spring is over for another year as the hundreds of monuments throughout the region have been burnt to the ground.
Starting on March 16 – although a week earlier in Valencia city – the festival sees the unveiling of giant, colourful papier mâché statues which satirise current affairs and famous people, plus their smaller, children's versions, and involves partying until dawn, parades of falleras – girls in traditional Valencian costume – music, gunpowder banger displays at lunchtime known as mascletaes with the aim of making as much noise as possible, fireworks, and an offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary.
On March 19, Saint Joseph's Day or Día de San José – which is also Fathers' Day in Spain – the fallas, or monuments are burnt down in reverse order with the winning statue going up last.
One of the smaller figurines, or ninots on the main fallas and the children's ones will be saved from the flames after being chosen by the fallera mayor, or festival queen for each monument, and is referred to as a ninot indultat, or 'pardoned' statuette.
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