Valencia's burning: No smoke without Fallas
Monday, March 20, 2017 @ 10:46 AM
NEARLY 770 falla monuments went up in flames last night (Sunday) in Valencia as is traditional on the last day of the festival in the city and elsewhere in the region.
Smaller towns, mostly in the province of Valencia although some in the north of that of Alicante, hold lower-level versions of the fiesta, with one or two in villages such as Pamís and Pego and six in Oliva, a town of 28,000 inhabitants.
This year has seen the first-ever Fallas celebrated since the festival was declared a UNESCO heritage event, and with over a million visitors to Valencia city alone, the fiesta has broken all records.
The most popular events within the Fallas include the mascletaes, or gunpowder banger displays – normally at 14.00 – where the aim is to make as much noise as possible, and the offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary.
The latter sees falleras, or girls and women in traditional Valencian costume of crinolines and dresses made of braided silk – a material that is starting to creep into mainstream fashion and gradually being exploited by local and regional designers – parading through town to a giant wooden frame with a huge Mary head on top, and slotting bunches of flowers into the slats.
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