Fallas

Last week I think the population of Denia doubled. There were lots of short-wearing, English speaking tourists milling around the streets looking at the fallas. Fallas is the name of the week long festival, as well as the statue type creations that are the centerpieces of the fiesta. I don't know how to describe fallas exactly, but there are lots of pictures of them on my shutterfly site. Another part of the festivities is "cohetes," or firecrackers. People, including small children, were setting off small firecrackers in the street all week. They also have mescletas or "firecracker shows."  On Wednesday, I went to Valencia with most of the Calvin group. The fallas celebration is just in this region, and originated in Valencia. The fallas there are quite impressive; the winning falla was 900,000 euros to build. They also have a "mescleta" that is about 5 times the size of the one in Denia. It happens every day at two, and it was crazy! I had seen it on TV, but being there with deafening noise, vibrating ground and surrounded by smoke is a whole different experience. For several hours in the evening there is a parade of the falleras (people who are connected to a falla and dress up in really cool dresses/suits) bringing flowers to the Virgin Mary. There is a huge wooden structure that makes up her dress, and they fill it in with flowers. Wednesday night, around 1:30, there was a fireworks show. I guess I haven't seen too many fireworks shows in big cities, but they were the best fireworks I have ever seen. Thursday is the day of Saint...Juan (haha, I forget which saint) and the final day of fallas. Thursday morning, the falleros brought flowers to the Virgin (which was much, much smaller than the Virgen in Valencia). The tradition is to burn all of the fallas, so in the afternoon I walked around and saw the few that I hadn't seen yet. And then that night I watched several of them burn. Eva's boyfriend is a firefighter and she had told me several funny stories about the "show" that the firemen put on. I kept an eye out for Tony (her boyfriend) but didn't see him. The fallera mayor (the most important woman fallera who is connected to that specific falla) lights a string of cohetes that light the falla, which has been doused in gasoline. At some of the fallas, they set off fireworks before hand. It is kind of a shame to watch the works of art go up in flames, but I guess they can't have five story high fallas chillin' in the streets forever.