Tuesday: Las Fallas/ Les Falles Introduction

So... it is the time. The biggest party will be held in Valencia. Today I was going for a walk in the city centre and I saw for the first time some of this year "fallas/falles". I shall say that those are beautiful, hand-crafted to perfection, detailed sculptures from paper and wood that will be burned to ashes in The night of Fire /Nit de foc/ of 19 of March.

For brief description of this Valencian Phenomenon I will cite Wikipedia:

The Falles (in valencian) or Fallas (in Spanish) are a Valencian traditional celebration in praise of Saint Joseph in Valencia, Spain. The term Falles refers to both the celebration and the monuments created during the celebration. A number of towns in the Valencian Community have similar celebrations inspired in the original one from the city of Valencia.

Each neighbourhood of the city has an organized group of people, the Casal faller, that works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the famous speciality paella. Each casal faller produces a construction known as a falla which is eventually burnt. A casal faller is also known as a comissió fallera.

The name of the festival is thus the plural of falla. The word's derivation is as follows: 

falla ← Vulgar Latin *facla ← Latin facula (diminutive) ← Latin fax, "torch".  

And some photos of the marvels! Enjoy!

A small boy with a paper plane...

The joke of marriage. Quite sarcastic. down there was written mortgage...

...check Lady and The Tramp Italian dinner :")

The little helpers.

This one is my favourite... the hair is unbelievable. And the colours...

Scare Crow...

Really cute with those paper cranes

The oficial Falla at the City Hall Square. The theme here is "sports"

Detail of the girl.

And Mascleta: a show for pyromaniacs during the day. Check the multitude.

All photos are mine with no colour correction or effects :")