Fallas!

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So, I was actually in Valencia this past week for the craziest festival ever, called Fallas! It was a week filled with traditional costumes, kids with firecrackers all day long, amazing fireworks shows, huge figures and lights put up in the streets, huge crowds, and lots of street parties. It is very difficult to describe Fallas, I would suggest the link that my dad put as a comment on the last entry to give some basics. But it is kind of like a bunch of block parties. Each little neighborhood (there are over 300!) makes a big and a small ninot (big figures made of a styrofoam/papier-machet material) that criticize different aspects of society. Some are very obvious for me to understand, such as ones criticizing drunkards, but others were more political or harder to interpret. Some of the big ones were as tall as buildings, but other smaller ones could be as tall as a person.

So these were all put up for display officially on the 15th, and each one was judged. The neighborhoods also were judged on how many lights they put up in the streets, so the streets were really pretty with bright lights. The one that won was the biggest and most expensive (it cost over 300,000 euros), we saw it the last night and it was very impressive. Most of the ninots were pretty creepy, weird faces and lots of characters that we couldn't understand, but some (such as the one that won) were pretty.

I walked around and saw a bunch of them on Thursday, then the real craziness started. That night was the first fireworks display, and they were amazing, they were every night during Fallas (until the 19th). Fireworks here is like an art form and they are very creative and careful with it. I forgot how much I loved fireworks. Firecrackers are another story however, people have them all over the streets here (they are legal) and even 3 or 4 year old kids are playing with them unsupervised! So all day long you cannot sleep since there is constant noise. Not to mention the deafening mascletas at 2 every day (which I mentioned in a previous entry). I am definitely glad that the noise has finally stopped. Also, it was crazy in the streets at night because there were these certain firecrackers that people would throw into crowds and people would instinctively run away, but they actually follow the movement and come towards you if you run. So you have to just stand there and hope for the best....it was really scary! No one got hurt from them that I know, and it probably wouldn't be a serious injury, but they are really scary nonetheless. The Valencians think it is really funny when all the tourists are scared of the firecrackers, they made fun of us a lot.

One of the nights we went to a falla (neighborhood) and competed (not really) in their Paella contest. Paella is the regional dish, and it was really fun to make it the traditional way with all the Valencians around. They made fun of us a lot since we didn't know what we were doing. We made it in the street with real fires, and it was pretty difficult since we didn't know what we were doing. But ours turned out pretty good! We thought so at least, so that was a fun, very traditional thing we got to do. It was nice to feel like we were almost insiders since the fallas were closed membership things so we couldn't just show up and hang out, but we were invited to go there and really participate which was nice.

Valencia doubles in population during Fallas, so there is an extra million people in the city. The crowds are incredible. You cannnot go anywhere fast, and you always have to watch your pockets. Two of my friends got their cameras stolen during Fallas, so I really don't have many pictures since I was too paranoid to take mine out in the crowds. At night we would go to see the fireworks then go out to street parties (live bands or djs in the streets with mobs of people). It was really fun, everyone was insane though! We wouldn't get home until about 5am, but the subways ran all night, which was really nice.

Then, last night was the night they burned all the ninots. We watched two burn (they all burn at midnight except one in the center of the city was at 1). It was really fun, and they had a fireworks display at the second one. It was crazy how they would burn huge things as tall as buildings right next to important old government offices! My senora told us today that she used to live right next to a falla and when they would burn it it would get so hot in the apartment that their crystal would break! It is so crazy what they do just for this weird festival they have. It was a memorable experience however, and one I will never forget!

That is all for now, I have school the rest of this week and next, then we leave for Morocco! I am excited to be around Valencia for a little bit and recover from the little sleep I got this weekend.

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