An Orgy of Explosions: Valencia’s Falles Festival

Valencia is a quiet city compared to its noisy sisters Barcelona and Madrid. That changes in March, as the peace is shattered and Spring ushered in with a barrage of explosions, parties, marching bands, cheering crowds and millions of euros worth of fireworks.

During the Falles festival (Falles is an old valencian word for ‘torches’), firecrackers and fireworks are briefly legalised for anyone to let off in the street. The streets of Valencia — narrow, lined with tall apartment buildings — become like war zones as groups of kids absent-mindedly light roman candles, catherine wheels and what back home I would call ‘bangers’. Crowds of revellers carefully skirt the explosion zones and every street has a churros van on it, selling the deep-fried doughnuts and cups of molten chocolate popular all over Spain.

Every neighbourhood has its own Falles committee, which organises the local street parties — holding free paella lunches during the day and organising DJ sets and live music for the night.