Las Fallas, Valencia, Spain (March)

The fireworks displays are in Plaza del Ayuntamiento.

Location: Valencia, Spain.
Dates: 12–19 March

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, 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.

Las Fallas Traditions

Renowned artists, painters, and sculptors take great care in designing and constructing the enormous fallas – some tower up to 30 meters high! – that dominate Valencia's public squares and open spaces during the five-bacchanal every year. You won't be able to keep a straight face, admiring the masterfully-created, colorful fallas depicting celebrities, politicians, and current events of the past year in a toungue-in-cheek manner that sits halfway between a scathing satire and sardonic humor.

While awards and prizes identify the best fallas and their creators, these crafty individuals tirelessly work for months fully aware that the fruits of their talents and labors will meet their end as piles of discarded ash. At midnight on March 19 the city quite literally lights up as the 370 large fallas and 368 smaller infantile fallas burst into colorful flames.

While the week-long fiesta certainly revolves around the axis of the fallas and their eventual ignition, it also sparks the participation of the entire city. Valencian women pass through the city donning traditional regional costumes, music brightens the atmosphere, the cheer of "Olé" erupts at first-class bullfights, fireworks explode in the sky, and a general sense of merriment and partying fills the streets around the clock