Fallas 2008
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Revista CV News nº 42

CVNews 42
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What are Fallas?

The origins of the Fallas Festivity goes back to an old tradition of the city's carpenters, who before the Festivity of their patron Saint Joseph, burned in front of their workshops, on the streets and public squares, their useless things and other wooden utensils they used to hold the candles that gave them light during the winter season. This is the reason why the night of the cremà (in which the Fallas monuments burn down) is always on March 19th, the Festivity of San José.

In the 18th century, Fallas used to be piles of combustible materials that where called "Fallas" and where burnt the night before the day of San José.

These Fallas evolved and acquired a more critical and ironic sense when showing in the monuments reprehensible social scenes.

Around 1870, the Fallas celebration was forbidden, as well as Carnival. In 1885 this pressure created a movement that defended typical traditions by awarding in the magazine "LaTraca" the prizes to the best Fallas Monuments. This competition, which began to be popular among different neighbourhoods, brought the creation of the artistic Falla, where critique was still an important element together with aesthetics.
In 1901 the Ayuntamiento de Valencia awarded local prizes to the best Fallas. This was the beginning of the union between the people and the political power. This relationship has greatly developed this popular festivity in its structure, organisation and size.
In 1929 the first poster contest for the promotion of the Festivities and in 1932 the Fallero weekend was established. It what then, when Fallas became the Mayor Festivity of the Region of Valencia. Today, more than seven hundred big and small Fallas are burned in the city of Valencia.

Fallas today