Las Fallas de Valencia

This March I was lucky enough to get to go to a super important festival in Valencia called Las Fallas. My host mom is from Valencia, and my host cousins and grandparents live there, so my family made the 5 hour drive to their house.

MONUMENTS: The amazing this about Las Fallas is the huge monuments built in every neighborhood. The monuments are made out of cardboard and paper-mâché, and each one elaborately and beautifully tells it’s own unique story. Now I didn’t believe this when my family first told me, but on the last day of the celebration, all the monuments are set on fire. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see them burned since I had to go to school, but I can’t imagine how amazing it is. 

LA MESCLETÁ and FIREWORKS: During Las Fallas you probably won’t go more than 30 minutes without hearing a firework go off-and I’m not exaggerating. Everybody from toddlers to grandparents take their turn throwing fireworks. The Mescletá takes place everyday during the festival, and it’s a large, coordinated display of fireworks in the city center. The Mescletá begins when the main fallera calls out “Senyor/a pirotècnic/a, pot començar la mascletà!” 

FALLERAS and FALLEROS: The falleras (females) and falleros (males) are the people of Valencia who dress up in the traditional clothing, take part in the parades, and bring flowers to the virgin. All three of my host sisters are falleras, so I got to see the longggg process of what it takes to get ready. The outfits or the falleras are absolutely beautiful. The falleras put on dresses, jackets, jewelry, makeup, vails, and they have their hair elaborartly done. In the photos you can find a picture of me and my host sisters while they are all dressed up. 

PAELLA: I honestly feel bad for everybody that doesn’t have a host Grandma from Valencia because nothing compares to the Paella she makes. Paella is a traditional dish of Valencia, and it’s absolutely amazing (probably my favorite Spanish food) It consists of rice, vegetables, beans, and meat or fish. If you ever visit Spain, eating paella is an absolute necessity.