Opravy

Valencia lives for Las Fallas, and Las Fallas make Valencia live.

According to what I understood about it, every year between March 15th and March 19th the city brightens up, the streets become full of people and the firecrackers are crowned kings of the night.

Las Fallas is the most important holiday in Valencia.

During those days people take out what they call “fallas”, gigantic statues made of wood and papier-mâché, beautifully painted, which can be until 30 meters high.

They are a criticism of what happened during the year and represent metaphorically people (like politicians) or real facts (the economic crisis, for example).

On March 19th (San José), at night, people set fire to the statues to get rid of what they represent and hope for the situation to get better in the year that has just begun.

During the previous days several other celebrations take place in the city.

Every morning on the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, people celebrate the Mazcletà, a huge explosion of firecrackers that attracts millions of people and makes the ground shake.

In addition, every night fireworks are lighted up and people celebrate the holiday in every part of the city.

It was the first time I experimented such a thing, and I really liked to see so much animation in the streets and to see the people being so happy to finally live that moment they had been waiting for for one year.

It seems as if time stopped in Valencia, people try to forget their problems for a couple of days and to enjoy the noise, the light and the cheerfulness that flood that beautiful city