Two million visitors will watch Valencia appear to burn this Tuesday, March 19th in what must be one of the loudest, brightest and craziest of Spanish festivals.
Spain has many great and original festivals; but Las Fallas seems absolutely unique. For the last few weeks around 350 lifelike dolls, some over 25 feet tall, have been scattered across Valencia’s streets, parks and other public places
These humorous figures, ninots, are fashioned out of huge cardboard, wood, paper-machè and plaster statues and borne out of a pagan ritual. Ninots are now dedicated to St Joseph and they are a mix of social, satirical and political comment .
After a year’s labour of love, and at a cost as high as 40,000 Euros each, only one lucky winner will survive Tuesday night. The winner will survive the night and be kept in a museum dedicated to the dolls, the Museum de Ninots.
Tuesday will be a day of festivals – traditionally bullfighting, beauty pageants, paella contests, parades and more - and all for the world’s largest festival audience. As with preceding days the streets will resound to spontaneous and random firework displays throughout the day.
At midnight all bar the winner will explode in a riot of pyrotechnics. The grand finale of Las Fallas is all about fire, colour, smoke, deafening sound and gunpowder all designed to welcome the end of winter and coming of Spring.