After visiting the Fallas de Valencia, you need to let your emotions calm down in order to over the reader some images of a popular event which, for its authenticity, color, artistic level, playfulness, is comparable only with the carnival of Rio de Janeiro and perhaps with some fiesta in that museum country, Italy. Unlike Carnival, Las Fallas is a festival of sculptures, evident in the monuments of cardboard constructed and their design and artistic labor. This event, held each year from 1 to 19 March, seems to say goodbye to winter and announce the spring.
A must-see is the noon fireworks — artificial rockets — and the castles of fire and the colors of midnight, to understand the deep attachment of thousands of people to these sculptures that generate competition, parades with bands, and urban excitement.
For someone coming from another land, it is unfortunate that each of these assemblies will be subjected to fire, which remains a tradition with a deep satiric sense because it recreates the events and personalities from reality that affect the lives of people.
5 April 2013
