Today we are going to tell you in a nutshell what the marvellous Valencia is like during the celebration of the the long-awaited Fallas...
Valencia is light, fire, music.
And to discover the true essence of the city you must not miss one of its biggest shows: the mascletà.
This is where you can experience first-hand the adrenaline of feeling a 5 minutes full of intensity.
But let's see... what exactly is it about?
It turns out that every day at 14:00 hours Valencians gather in the Town Hall square to contemplate the one of the shows strongest and most mind-blowing pyrotechnics of history.
It is a tradition dating back to the 18th century and which has its origins in the ″tracas″. that emerged in a small town near Valencia: Almansa.
And what is a traca? For those who don't know, it is a set of firecrackers or rockets which are linked by a fuse and explode consecutively.
Then, fireworks were set up in the streets and the public participated in them, also in the form of ″correfocs″. moving underneath the explosions and dancing around them.
But it was not until 1945 when what we now know as mascletà was formed: centred on a fixed point, such as the Valencia City Hall, and where the public becomes a mere spectator: You just have to let yourself go.
Nowadays it is not only a pyrotechnical show but also a it is also a competition, Each day a different group of pyrotechnicians launch the mascletà, thus opting to be the best of the festivities. It is a great recognition and pride winning, as it is a way of life.
It is about creating rhythm and colour, The aim is to convey a message and to make viewers vibrate, be surprised and connect.
As a noteworthy figure, the ″mestre de traca″. is the person responsible for carrying out the mascletà, is the conductor: he/she is the person who manages to create something harmonious and beautiful out of the din.
And all of this takes place in celebration of this unique holiday...
Las Fallas is a festival that goes from from 15 to 19 March with a deep-rooted tradition in the city of Valencia and different towns in the Valencian Community.
Officially they begin on the last Sunday in February with the act of the Cridà which is the ″call″.
Nowadays, this festival has become a very important tourist attraction, as, in addition to being classified as a festival of International Tourist Interest, in November 2016 Unesco registered them on its Representative List for the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
This celebration is also called as a feast that are celebrated in honour of St. Joseph, This was the patron saint of carpenters, which was a very widespread guild in the city when they began to be celebrated at the end of the 17th century, and which has been preserved until the present day, given the importance of the furniture industry in the region.
The fallas are a great feeling for falleros. It is a festival in which fun, noise and street atmosphere are the order of the day.
It is a large monument sculpted out of wood and paper with a message, normally full of criticism to anyone imaginable.
These huge monuments made of materials such as papier-mâché, wood, and carbon board reach extravagant heights and all of them are major art exhibitions.
If you want to know more about this original Valencian tradition, don't miss this article! The Fallas of Valencia, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
