Valencia, Spain: Las Fallas

Yesterday I went to Las Fallas, which are an annual festival in Valencia, Spain. The name of the festival is derived from the Latin word for "torch,"and rightfully so, as the final part of festival, called La Crema, consists of burning giant sculptures (fallas) in the streets. The celebration takes almost a full year of planning and fundraising, which culminates with a week-long festival of food, music, fireworks, and the burning. Each year there is a different theme to the fallas, so even though they're all different, there are common elements between them. I don't know what the theme was this year, but many of the sculptures had political figures, clocks, and music in them. I didn't see anywhere near all of the fallas during the day, but here are some pictures of the ones I did see:





This one is my favorite! She's a flamenco dancer with little musicians all around her.

Then here's what it looked like afterward.

The detail in the sculptures was beyond amazing. The colors and props are so lifelike! It was really fun to wander around and look at them all afternoon. Everytime we would turn a corner there would be a new one, and like I said, I didn't even see all of them. There was a parade at 7:00, and then the burning starts around midnight. It isn't just a simple act of lighting it on fire, though. There's a whole elaborate show involving fireworks and music. I took videos of both of the burnings that we watched, but for some reason they won't upload here, so I'll put them on my Facebook.

It was one of the coolest experiences I've had since coming here - something I know I'll never forget.