It's Fallas time

Valencia in Fallas, It is an incomparable party. With its joy, art and its flair, when you leave you will never forget... Valencia in Fallas.

As these traditional verses say: the city has an incomparable charm.

The Fallas are lived in the street because of the good weather and because the city becomes, all of it, pedestrian.

Every March 1st the city is dyed in the color of flowers and gunpowder to welcome spring and more than a million visitors.

In Fallas everything is a party: the roar of the mascletà (daytime fireworks), the casales, the parades, the offering of the flowers and the bands of music that go through the more than 700 fallas monuments.

On March 15 begins the Plantà (assembly of the monument), some of them reaching 25 meters in height. From March 16 at eight o'clock in the morning the fallas are finished and exposed to compete for the first prize.

Did we say every March 1st? Sorry for the clarification, because the Valencians begin to prepare our most beloved festivities from the end of January, time when we choose our queens (major and child) of the festival.

From then on it is a non-stop fireworks display, read on and you will see the link that breaks down all the official events.

To understand this festival is necessary to have clear certain concepts, distinguish:

• Time of Fallas as a festival of Valencia (from March 1 to 19).
• Falla is a non-profit association of neighbors who meet during the year in locals called "Casals". They obtain their income through the sale of shares in various raffles, a membership fee, government aid and prizes for classification to the best Fallas monument.
• Falla as fallero monument that will be exposed from 15 to 19 March, distinguish between large and children and compete for the prize for the best falla.

Other prizes are also awarded such as the prize for ingenuity and grace.

As you can see, Valencians like gunpowder.

The tradition of gunpowder was born in Valencia in 1707, when the gun factory was dismantled and moved to Toledo. A large number of medium caliber firearms known as "Traques" or "Trabucos" were kept there.

The oldest blunderbusses were piled up in the courtyard of the factory and burned.

After the wood of the butts burned, the guns were sold for scrap.

Many blacksmiths bought these remains, but did not melt them down, but kept them and adopted the custom of nailing these tubes to the ground, loading them with gunpowder and then firing them to celebrate popular festivities in the villages and farmhouses.

Today the fireworks display is held in the Town Hall Square at 2 pm. During the day? Yes, during the day we focus on sound and at night on color and light, that's how we Valencians are.

The crowded streets, the contemplation of the Fallas monument and the refreshment stops are some of the reasons why Valencia in Fallas is an incomparable festival.

From Pelican Bike Rental we want to give you some basic tips that will improve your Fallas experience:

• In Fallas you stand a lot, wearing comfortable shoes is a must.
• The most traditional thing is to walk through the streets of the city contemplating the fallas while enjoying a delicious chocolate with bunyols de carabassa (pumpkin fritters).
• The chairs that are in the streets along the parade routes are for rent. If you find free ones you can sit on them, for a price of course.
• -Do not stand too close to the fireworks, you will end up full of colored papers from the exploding firecrackers, stand with your back to the wind, you will avoid the smoke and the papers.
• -In Fallas you hear firecrackers at all hours, if the noise seems too loud open your mouth and do not cover your ears, it is worse.
• And finally, always respect the security perimeters that are marked.

History of the Fallas

From March 16th, during your tour you will see many of the impressive Fallas monuments. You can't miss them because they are tall, huge and full of satire.

The popularity of these festivities is very widespread, being celebrated today in more than 88 towns in the Valencian Community.

The Fallas of the 21st century reproduce scenes of reprehensible social events, irony, social criticism in which social and political life is caricatured always with a sense of humor, but this is not always so. In the beginning, the Falla was composed of pyres of combustible materials that evolved into the monuments that we can see today.

The origin of this festivity dates back to the 18th century due to an ancient tradition of the city's carpenters who, on the eve of the feast of their patron saint (Saint Joseph), burned old and useless junk in the public squares, together with the wooden devices left over from their work.

There are also those who still believe that the true beginnings of this celebration (the Fallas) are in the ancient rituals when they celebrated the spring equinox, a time of the year when the day lasts the same hours as the night.

March is a date marked by various ancient cultures as a date of great energetic power. It marks the return of Persephone from Hades, that is, of blossoming and life.

For one reason or another, our famous Fallas is an incomparable and unforgettable celebration. From Pelican Bike rental we encourage you to enjoy them with common sense! Take to the streets, mingle and have fun, attend the Mascletá, see the flower offering, which lasts 2 days, enjoy the fireworks shows at night, taste the Orxata with Fartóns and the famous pumpkin fritters, pedaling through the 9 km long urban garden is a marvel in Fallas and of course our electric scooters will shorten the distances between the points of interest.

Click on the following Link to see the official events

https://www.levante-emv.com/fallas/2022/12/13/programa-fallas-2023-festejos-oficiales -79919669.html

Thanks for reading!