More Fallas

Mar 3, 2024

I can’t begin to describe this experience. I wish I could give you a taste of it all. But I’ll try.

As background, here’s what Wikipedia says about Fallas. But one correction: it runs from March 1-19. It’s almost three weeks long!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencia_Fallas

There are the organized fireworks and Maskletas put on by the city, and the neighborhood Maskletas organized by the local Fallaros. Meanwhile, kids of all ages buy fireworks to shoot at anytime of the day or night. (And yes, parents encourage it!)

I did go to the fireworks in Friday at midnight with my friends Ivan and Omar, and again on Saturday. These are great fireworks.

But unlike most I’ve seen, they’re really designed for noise and to rattle your insides. I’ll share videos. But iPhones mute the noise. Otherwise it would blow out your speakers. So try to imagine that every little “pop” you hear is so loud that you feel it. Here’s the conclusion of Friday’s show.

Watch to the end and don’t be confused by the very brief pause. It’s almost like the fireworks took a deep breath and then finished with a long thunderstorm that rolled on and on.

I mentioned on Friday that the Maskleta happens every day at 2:00 pm. This is a daytime fireworks with more noise than light. I didn’t go on Saturday because I met Omar to go see the new Dune movie. Even so, as I walked to the theatre, more than a mile from downtown, at exactly 2:00 pm, I could hear and feel the five minute show as I walked. Omar and I had dinner and coffee afterwards. (The movie was great, by the way!)

I was walking home after dinner and the movie, I walked through a neighborhood and saw this crowd blocking the street. As I got close, I realized that a local neighborhood version of Maskleta was about to start. At precisely 8:45 pm, they started lighting them. The energy of both this crowd and the firecracker’s explosions made me want to jump for joy.

Saturday night, I met Omar and Ivan for dinner and then the fireworks at midnight. There had been a light rain. So the crowd was smaller. Here’s the conclusion of last night’s show.

At the end of these things, I find myself laughing and wanting to dance, marveling at what I have just experienced.

Now, my neighborhood is a little more tame than others. But even so, there were firecrackers going off until 3 am this weekend. each neighborhood also has lights strung across the street. Here’s mine:

I woke up Sunday morning with some nearby neighborhood having a Maskleta at 8:00 am. …at 8:00 am on a Sunday morning!! For five minutes, you could feel the walls shake, literally!

Sunday afternoon, I decided to go to the downtown Maskleta at 2:00.

As I got close to the City Hall plaza, the crowds were getting bigger and a local Fallero group was playing music.

It was a clear, sunny afternoon. People from all over the city and actually from all over Europe are here. It was the biggest crowd I’ve seen so far. I got there at 1:30 and the crowd was so big, it was impossible to get into the plaza. I had to watch from a nearby street.