Valencia Fallas

Valencia Fallas
Fallas de Valencia
Falles de València
Falla Na Jordana 2003 (1st prize)
Date(s)15 to 19 March
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)Valencia, Spain
Fiesta of International Tourist Interest
Designated1980
Valencia Fallas festival
CountrySpain
DomainsSocial practices, rituals and festive events
Reference859
RegionEurope and North America
Inscription history
Inscription2016 (11th session)
ListRepresentative

The Fallas (Valencian: Falles; Spanish: Fallas) is a traditional celebration held annually in commemoration of Saint Joseph in the city of Valencia, Spain. The five main days celebrated are from 15 to 19 March,[1][2] while the Mascletà, a pyrotechnic spectacle of firecracker detonation, takes place every day from 1 to 19 March.[2][3] The term Fallas refers to both the celebration and the Falla monuments (Falla, singular; Fallas/Falles, plural) burnt during the celebration.[4] The Fallas (Falles in Valencian) festival was added to UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage of humanity list on 30 November 2016.[5] A number of towns in the Valencian Community have similar celebrations inspired by the original Fallas de Valencia festival. For example, the Bonfires of Saint John (Hogueras de San Juan or Fogueres de Sant Joan) in Alicante or the Fiestas de la Magdalena in Castellón de la Plana.

Each neighbourhood of the city has an organised group of people, the Comission, that meets at the Casal faller, and works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the noted dish paella,[6] a specialty of the region. Each comission produces a construction known as falla which is burned the last day of the celebration. Currently there are approximately 400 registered Comissions in Valencia.[7][8]

  1. ^ Enrique Ávila López (7 December 2015). 1 Modern Spain. ABC-CLIO. p. 341. ISBN 978-1-61069-601-2. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
  2. ^ a b Fallas of Valencia Fundació Visit Valencia
  3. ^ "La mascletà « Distrito Fallas" (in Spanish). Distrito Fallas. 9 April 2008. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  4. ^ Martin, Charles B. (March 1973). "The Fallas: A Folk Festival of Valencia". The Journal of Popular Culture. 6 (4): 854. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1973.00854.x.
  5. ^ "Valencia Fallas festivity included in UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list". EPA European Pressphoto Agency b.v. European Pressphoto Agency. November 30, 2016. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  6. ^ Hazel Andrews; Teresa Leopold (8 February 2013). Events and the Social Sciences. Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-415-60560-1.
  7. ^ Gil-Manuel Hernàndez i Martí (1 January 1996). Falles i franquisme a València. Afers. p. 92. ISBN 978-84-86574-36-9.
  8. ^ "Fallas - Comisiones por número de censo" (in Spanish). 16 February 2016. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2017.