Every March, Valencia gets loud. Neighborhoods across the city build giant satirical monuments, plus smaller children's ones, put them up on March 15 and burn them all on the night of March 19. With kids, it works best in pieces, picked by age and noise tolerance. Here's what we checked, from the daily mascletà and the children's fallas to the museum of figures saved from the fire.
Fallas is Valencia's March festival of giant papier-mâché monuments, built in every neighborhood, judged, then burned on the last night. Kids can wander the streets looking at the ninots (the satirical figures), feel the daily mascletà shake the plaza, and watch the children's fallas burn before the big ones. It is loud and crowded, and works best taken in pieces.
Each Fallas commission sends the ninots it picks from its main and children's monuments, the satirical figures that burn at the end of the festival, to one hall. Kids walk among the figures at their own pace and vote for a favorite. The two most-voted ninots are pardoned and never burn. The museum building is worth a look too.
La Crida is the official start of Fallas. From the top of the Torres de Serranos, the Fallera Mayor of Valencia and the Child Fallera Mayor open the festival in front of a huge crowd. The towers glow, the whole plaza sings the city anthem, and fireworks close it out. It is loud and packed, and it suits kids who like a big night out.
Fallas commissions that take part send giant satirical figures, called ninots, down the street on floats, with costumed performers and brass bands marching alongside. The figures poke fun at politicians and the news of the year, and some jokes are crude or sexual. Kids get the size, color and noise, while the jokes suit adults. The parade closes with the first pieces of the city's municipal falla.
A mascletà is Valencia's daytime fireworks show: hundreds of kilos of gunpowder strung on ropes and fired in a rolling crescendo. It is built for noise and rhythm, not color in the sky, so you feel it in your chest. A different pyrotechnic company fires each day, and it ends in applause.
Every neighborhood falla commission builds a children's falla next to its main monument. They are smaller than the big ones and packed with cartoon figures and gentle satire. Nearly 400 are scattered across València, so you can pick one close to home or wander between a few. They are free to see, and a lot less crowded than the big ones.
Thousands of falleros and falleras in traditional dress walk to Plaza de la Virgen, each carrying a bouquet of carnations. Climbers on a tall wooden frame place the flowers one by one until a giant figure of the Mare de Déu dels Desemparats, the city's patroness that locals call the Geperudeta, appears in a patterned mantle. Bands play along the route, and whole falla families march together.
La Cremà is the last night of Fallas, when every falla in the city is set alight. These are huge painted monuments that neighborhood groups spend the year building. The small children's fallas burn first, the big ones later, with firefighters standing by at each. It is loud, hot and smoky, so it suits kids who enjoy fireworks and crowds more than toddlers who don't.
The Fallas Museum fills a former convent with the ninots indultats: the papier-mâché figures pardoned from the bonfire by public vote every year since 1934. Two are saved each year now, one from a main falla and one from a children's falla.
Kids can get close to decades of comic and satirical figures and see how the style changed, then browse Fallas posters, old photos and the sashes worn by each Fallera Mayor.
The museum of the Fallas artists' guild sits in Ciutat Fallera, the area of workshops where the Fallas monuments are built. Its life-size ninots (the painted figures) were spared from the fire by the artists themselves, and some date to the early 20th century.
A full falla stands inside to show each building step, from the wooden frame and modeling to painting. Original sketches and plaster models show how a design starts.
Every March, Valencia gets loud. Neighborhoods across the city build giant satirical monuments, plus smaller children's ones, put them up on March 15 and burn them all on the night of March 19. With kids, it works best in pieces, picked by age and noise tolerance. Here's what we checked, from the daily mascletà and the children's fallas to the museum of figures saved from the fire.
Fallas is Valencia's March festival of giant papier-mâché monuments, built in every neighborhood, judged, then burned on the last night. Kids can wander the streets looking at the ninots (the satirical figures), feel the daily mascletà shake the plaza, and watch the children's fallas burn before the big ones. It is loud and crowded, and works best taken in pieces.
Each Fallas commission sends the ninots it picks from its main and children's monuments, the satirical figures that burn at the end of the festival, to one hall. Kids walk among the figures at their own pace and vote for a favorite. The two most-voted ninots are pardoned and never burn. The museum building is worth a look too.
La Crida is the official start of Fallas. From the top of the Torres de Serranos, the Fallera Mayor of Valencia and the Child Fallera Mayor open the festival in front of a huge crowd. The towers glow, the whole plaza sings the city anthem, and fireworks close it out. It is loud and packed, and it suits kids who like a big night out.
Fallas commissions that take part send giant satirical figures, called ninots, down the street on floats, with costumed performers and brass bands marching alongside. The figures poke fun at politicians and the news of the year, and some jokes are crude or sexual. Kids get the size, color and noise, while the jokes suit adults. The parade closes with the first pieces of the city's municipal falla.
A mascletà is Valencia's daytime fireworks show: hundreds of kilos of gunpowder strung on ropes and fired in a rolling crescendo. It is built for noise and rhythm, not color in the sky, so you feel it in your chest. A different pyrotechnic company fires each day, and it ends in applause.
Every neighborhood falla commission builds a children's falla next to its main monument. They are smaller than the big ones and packed with cartoon figures and gentle satire. Nearly 400 are scattered across València, so you can pick one close to home or wander between a few. They are free to see, and a lot less crowded than the big ones.
Thousands of falleros and falleras in traditional dress walk to Plaza de la Virgen, each carrying a bouquet of carnations. Climbers on a tall wooden frame place the flowers one by one until a giant figure of the Mare de Déu dels Desemparats, the city's patroness that locals call the Geperudeta, appears in a patterned mantle. Bands play along the route, and whole falla families march together.
La Cremà is the last night of Fallas, when every falla in the city is set alight. These are huge painted monuments that neighborhood groups spend the year building. The small children's fallas burn first, the big ones later, with firefighters standing by at each. It is loud, hot and smoky, so it suits kids who enjoy fireworks and crowds more than toddlers who don't.
The Fallas Museum fills a former convent with the ninots indultats: the papier-mâché figures pardoned from the bonfire by public vote every year since 1934. Two are saved each year now, one from a main falla and one from a children's falla.
Kids can get close to decades of comic and satirical figures and see how the style changed, then browse Fallas posters, old photos and the sashes worn by each Fallera Mayor.
The museum of the Fallas artists' guild sits in Ciutat Fallera, the area of workshops where the Fallas monuments are built. Its life-size ninots (the painted figures) were spared from the fire by the artists themselves, and some date to the early 20th century.
A full falla stands inside to show each building step, from the wooden frame and modeling to painting. Original sketches and plaster models show how a design starts.
