Las Fallas is a festival held in the Valencia region of Spain. Spain holds many different types of festivals all throughout the year, and this is one of the most popular of all of them. The festival happens on the same dates every year. It commences on the 15th of March and takes place right through to the 19th of March. Las Fallas is renowned for being one of the noisiest festivals throughout the whole of Spain.

At the time of the festival, fireworks are set off mercilessly, and the noise of merry making echoes throughout the Valencian valleys for these four days in March. Valencia, which is usually a quiet and relaxed province is suddenly jolted to life once a year when this festival takes place, as many tourists and people from across the nation come to join in the festivities.

The Las Fallas festival can be traced in its roots right back to the 19th century, although the event has changed throughout the years in many ways since it first began. During the festival, ‘nintos’ are placed throughout the Valencian streets. These ‘nintos’ are decorative ornaments, also satirical in their purpose of representing a social or political message. Although the main events of the festival do not begin until the 15th March, the first day of March marks the opening of the festival, and fireworks are released to celebrate the event. During these first two weeks of March, the city of Valencia is decorated with around seven hundred ‘nintos’, or Fallas.

“Fallas” is a Spanish word which is given to caricatures that represent local and international celebrities and personalities. Spanish artists spend the year working on these caricatures to get them ready and perfected for the opening of the Las Fallas festival. When the festival commences, the works of art are displayed all around the city. They are on display for five days, and after these five days are up, the Fallas are burned and destroyed in a huge public event.

The Las Fallas festival has many smaller events nestled with it. One of the most spectacular of these is known as the ‘Ofrenda de Flores a la Virgin de los Desamparados’. On the 17th and 18th of March, a parade is held, which starts at 4pm and carries on long into the night. This parade sees many people dressed in flamboyant and intricate costumes, and everyone involved in the parade carries an offering of flowers which are representative of a gift for the patron saint. When midnight strikes on March 19th, this means the festival is coming to a close, and the closing ceremony begins. The closing ceremony is the huge bonfire where all the nintos are burned - that is, all except one. A vote is carried out, where the public vote for their favourite ninto that has been on display through the city. The winning piece of artwork is saved from the flames, and is placed in the Fallerno museum for all to see.