My kind of town: Valencia

The crackle and snap of exploding gunpowder has gone; the air has cleared of smoke, and life around the Plaza del Ayuntamiento is as normal as it ever gets in the hubbub of Valencia’s main square.

For another year, the <i>mascleta</i>, the firework show that provides an explosive start to the Las Fallas spring festival, has been silenced.

Until next March, when the rockets will once again explode in the misty early afternoon air, and the people of Valencia will embrace a festival of epic proportions and noise, this southern Spanish city will quietly return to the business of cooking traditional paella and growing delicious oranges.

Las Fallas is the name given to the festivities that celebrate the spirit and traditions of the fallas communities, and mark the end of winter and the arrival of spring. It is an excuse for Valencians unashamedly to parade their music, their traditions and their rituals in a festival of high-spirited fun

The city closes 540 streets between March 15-19 to allow Valencians and visitors to the city to stroll around between the fireworks and huge comic sculptures called <i>ninots</i>.

He seems familiar

More myth than truth, ,Las Fallas  is romantically linked to the city’s carpenters of old when, at the end of winter, they would throw their discarded wood into the street for burning. A few began to construct amusing figures out of their leftovers before setting fire to them.

Each <i>mascleta</i> in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento costs up to 9,000 euros and uses 130 kilos of gunpowder in a matter of minutes.

During the festivities, each neighbourhood association – called a falla – will hold its own <i>mascleta</i>, which consists largely of a series of ear-splitting eruptions that bounce off the surroundings buildings like thunderbolts.

Each association works throughout the year on the construction of a large wood and polystyrene sculpture which is destined to be burnt to the ground during La Nit de la Crema on March 19.

Figures at Las Fallas 2010

Each year some 700 fallas are installed in the streets, competing for recognition and prizes with their satirical humour, creativity, size and dramatic impact. They also weave a little dose of eroticism into some of the structures.

Starting an hour after daybreak, and lasting to a climactic display of pyrotechnics at one the following morning in the Paseo de La Alameda, fireworks explode noisily around the streets as each neighbourhood tries to outdo the next with its ability to create an explosive impact.

The procession of falleros and falleras is called the Ofrenda. It honours the patron of the city, the Virgin of Our Lady of the Forsaken, whose carved figure is offered flowers by each of the exquisitely dressed ladies, young girls and small children. As they approach the Madonna, the ladies struggle to hold back tears.

Over a period of several days, these flowers become a cloak assembled by men climbing the wooden-framed skeleton of the Madonna’s body.

It is a huge community event, allowing Valencians to let off a little steam, and to enjoy it with visitors from within and well beyond Spain.

Salute to Hollywood 2010