When and Where is Las Fallas?
Valencia's biggest celebration of the year takes off on March 15, when creators and builders scramble together to erect in a single day the elaborate fallas – emblematic and complex cardboard and paper-maché structures bearing a series of hand-made figurines called ninots, which climb high into the skies. The blazing finale comes just four days later, on March 19, during the feast day of Saint Joseph (who is also the patron saint of carpenters – hence all the care in the construction of the structures, see?), when the architectural works of art are burst into flames – yes, deliberately – to the cheers of thousands.
While there are many different versions of similar traditions across the entire peninsula to celebrate the feast day of Saint Joseph, commonly known in Spanish as the josefines, none of them come anywhere near the sumptuosity and dedication devoted to it in the Mediterranean city of Valencia, home to this festive, one-of-a-kind pyrotechnic display.