So, wait...they burn them four days after putting them up?
Welcome to Fallas, one of the most bizarre festivals in the world....however, it is only second in bizareness in the Comunitat Valenciana, remember, as every August Bunyol has a festival where people throw tomatoes at each other.
All year, the "artistas falleras" work on creating five story Falla monuments criticizing popular culture and governmental figures. It takes about a week every March to construct them. They have to be constructed by midnight on 15th March. And on the 19th March, the city is on fire as all of these Fallas are burnt to the ground. This is accompanied by the Mascletà, an annoying production of smoke and noise every day for three weeks at 2 pm in the Plaça d'ajuntament. And if that's not enough, every night, during the week of Fallas, at midnight, or at 1, or at 1.30 a.m., there are colossal firework displays, ending with the Nit de Foc (Noche de fuego, o Night of Fire, in valencian Catalan.
My favourite part had to be "Les ilumnaciones", when two streets in the Barrio Ruzafa are illuminated with the brightest, most beautiful lights you can imagine.
Another tradition is the eating of "buñuelos", something like a churro made of pumpkin and deep fried.
All week, I was on edge from not only all the people, which always tend to "agobiar" me, but also from the news that my mom was in the hospital. She nearly died. However, the prognosis is good, she´s at home and recovering from a heart attack. It set a somber tone on what should've been a festive event. I did the best I could to forget.
Some of the Fallas were awesome. My favourites included the most evil governor since George. W. Bush governed Texas Francisco Camps as La Bella and (not)ambigulously lesbian mayor Rita Barbarà as La Bestia, Obama as "Baraknieves", a pun on Blancanieves (Spanish for Snow White) and La princesa del reino Letizia and princesa del barrio Belén Esteban.
I have to say, this was a once in a life time experience. I'm glad to have finally experienced a major Spanish festival, but at the same time, I don't think I´ll be doing Semana Santa in Andalucía, Fería de abril (this year in May!) in Sevilla or los San Fermines de Pamplona any time soon.
