Valencia’s Fallas Festival: Welcoming Spring with Fire
For hundreds of years, residents of Valencia, Spain, have celebrated the arrival of spring and paid tribute to San Jose, the patron saint of the carpenters’ guild, by building, then ceremonially burning huge monuments made of wood, cardboard, and paper. The monuments, or “Fallas,” consist of “ninots,” or figures, that are often caricatures made to portray current events and celebrities. The two-week-long festival features parades, fireworks, and fiestas, and ends with the burning of hundreds of Fallas, signifying cleansing and renewal.
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