Luxury Real Estate

Courtesy of Kirsty Bryson of Luxury Homes by VAPF

The 19^th of March is a big day in the Valencian region of Spain: not only is it Father’s day throughout the whole of Spain, but it’s also the day the “Cremà” takes place. And what is the “cremá” you’re probably thinking? Well, “Cremá” is the valencian word for “burning”, and it refers to the burning of the paper-mâché monuments known as “Fallas”.

The main celebrations take place in the city of Valencia during the week leading up to the 19^th of March, with open-air concerts, parades, massive firework displays, street dancing etc and culminate on midnight of the 19^th, when the monuments (that can take a whole year to design and put together) are burnt to the ground. Each individual falla follows a theme which generally aims at criticizing or picking on public figures, mainly politicians and famous personalities who have at some point during the year have been the centre of attention for something they have done or said which has not gone down very well with the general public.

A number of towns in the Valencian region of Spain celebrate the Fallas although, obviously, not at the scale of the Valencia festivities, which has become know as the “City of Fallas”, with more than 400 different monuments all over the city and surrounding neighbourhoods. These monuments, built using a combination of paper, wax, wood and Styrofoam, can be up to 5 stories high and cost ridiculous amounts of money.

Each day of the fallas festivities commences with a loud awakening before sunrise called la despertà with brass bands marching down the streets playing lively music followed by the falleros (each Falla monument has a team of falleros behind it which is in charge of organizing the fallas events in their particular area of the town) setting of noisy firecrackers in the street as they go.

Later on in the day, at 2pm, just in case you’re feeling a little bit dozy, they set off the “Mascletá”, a daylight firework display comprising a long succession of explosions that is almost unique to the Valencia region and is an extremely popular event. The “Mascletá” is held in the Town Hall square and the pyrotechnicians that take part compete for the honour of providing the final “Mascletá” of the fiestas on March 19^th.

The monuments are erected in a ceremony called the “Plantá” on the 15^th of March, and a jury of experts has to decide, over the next few days, which is the best falla in the city and which is the best figurine or ninot, which will be saved from the burning. The jury takes into account several different factors to reach their decision, including monumentality, risk, theme, etc

The night of the burning is the most emotional event when, with solemn anthems playing in the background, the falleros see their treasured falla that they’ve worked so hard for burnt to the ground.