The 2008 Fallas Of Valencia Festival (1of2)

Link to part 2of2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OVdYIzA7cI

Back in March of 2008 I stayed at a friends student flat in the Spanish city of Valencia for a few days during the biggest festival of the year for the city, Las Fallas (The Fallas). This gave me the chance to see and video both the Fallas and their burning (in video 2of2) later on the 19th of the month (I had never seen the burning before). I had a lot of fun doing this and I hope you enjoy watching these videos :)

Las Fallas (The Fallas), also known as fiestas josefinas in castellan or festes de Sant Josep in the local dialect from Catalan Valenciano, are celebrated in several towns and cities throughout the Velancian community of Spain, although The Fallas festival that takes place in the city of Valencia is by far the biggest.

Some Background

The Festival takes place from the 14th to the 19th of March and is held in honor of San José, the patron saint of the carpenters. The Fallas are artistic sculptures of known people with other elements incorporated around them; they often represent political/social statements about things in the Valencian community and Spain, which is why they are burnt on the last day of the festival as a way of symbolizing the action of getting rid of these unwanted sides of society.

The Fallas began in medieval times, simple from the carpenters of the city having a day of the year where they could take out into the streets and burn any left other rubbish from there carpenter work. Other time it has evolved until the present day where hundreds of Fallas are built each year (a total of 386 in 2007). Today The Fallas are a mayor event and a very important touristic attraction to the city of Valencia and Spain.

For more information see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallas

And:
http://www.valenciavalencia.com/culture-guide/fallas/fallas.htm (Has a number of good photos)

Filmed 18th and 19th of March 2008

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Jayen woods
• Rafa Vidal
• Fallas
• Las Fallas
• valencia
• festivals
• 2008
• art
• sculptures
• adventure
• party
• partying
• parading
• music
• culture
• bands
• aielo de malferit