Las Fallas is a famous festival celebrated every March in Valencia, Spain. During this celebration, people create huge, colorful sculptures made of wood, paper and cardboard. These sculptures can be funny and artistic, or they can even tell stories about things happening in the world right now. At the end of the festival, the sculptures are set on fire in a big event called La Cremà. Las Fallas is loud, exciting and full of tradition!
I learned about Las Fallas from a Spanish friend who is from Valencia, the area in Spain where this event is celebrated. This tradition interested me because it reminded me of a Cuban tradition called Muñeco Viejo. This is a similar tradition in which Cuban families or neighbors will build a human-like, human-sized doll, dress it with old clothes and burn it on New Year's Eve as a sign of the end of one year and the beginning of another. In the Valencian tradition, the whole city gets involved, and there are fireworks, parades and music throughout the week.
