Las Fallas 2023 - Valencia

Fire festival Valencia 2023

Event date: 
Wednesday March 15 to Sunday, March 19, 2023

Event location:
Valencia, Spain,
4 hours south of Barcelona by train/car

Fallas Valencia. Las Fallas of Spain's biggest annual festivals is in Valencia, just 4 hours from Barcelona. Las Fallas de Valencia is an annual springtime festival in Valencia, Spain, which takes place from March 15 to March 19, ending on the feast day of St. Joseph. Las Fallas is a a festival of fireworks, flames and parades to celebrate Saint Joseph with many parades, displays, concerts and activities.



Usually over 2 million visitors attend this very loud week of firecrackers, fireworks and processions that culminates with a burning of 500 fire sculpture dolls called Ninots, some of which are 10m high.

The festival’s origins are rooted in Iberian pagan equinox celebrations. Las Fallas celebrations have firework displays, live music, and traditional costumes, but the focal point of the festival are the hundreds of huge cartoon-like sculpture dolls that fill the streets of Valencia.

On the final night of Las Fallas, these sculpture dolls are set ablaze and burned to the ground.

This festival is called 'Las Fallas' in the Spanish language - or 'Falles' in the Valencian language. Both words are the plural of the Valencian word falla (Spanish and Valencian form plurals differently).

But what exactly does falla mean? The original meaning was 'torch' but has now evolved to mean the festivals during which special torches are lit. In the 18th century, a falla became a fire lit to burn ninots (puppets or dolls) used in satire, and eventually, the figures themselves also came to be known as falles (or fallas).

Today, the word fallas has many different meanings: it may be used to refer to the festival itself, the fires that form part of the festival, the scenes that are built and later set on fire, or the communities of neighbors who manage and carry out the construction of the figures.

The highlight is the spectacular "Cabalgata del Fuego" (Fire Parade) is on the evening of 19th March. Highlights include the burning of giant papier mâché dolls called “Ninots,” many of which are caricatures of famous people. 

Remember earplugs and caps!

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