THE traditional curtain-raiser to Valencia’s historic Fallas celebrations has been suspended due to Thursday’s apartment block fire in the city.
The annual festival normally starts on the last Sunday in February with a firework display at the Serrano Towers, but just hours after the tragedy, Fallas organisers announced the suspension of tomorrow’s events.
The city and the whole of the Valencian Community are in three days of official mourning for the fire victims- a period that ends on Monday.
Revised dates for this weekend’s postponed events will be announced ‘soon’.
The Fallas officially gets into full gear on March 1 with the daily Mascleta show of very loud firework explosions which is held daily at 2pm in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento.
Events are then ramped up to a maximum over the last five days between March 15 and 19.
Besides extra firework displays at the Turia Gardens, there are the big figurines known as ninots made by groups from different city districts.
They are erected locally and take part in a competition for the best design.
Most of the big creations have a sense of irony and social commentary mixed with humour.
A ninot exhibition featuring all the caricatures is running until March 14 at the Science Museum of the City of Arts and Sciences before they take to the local streets.
Ninots of Donald Trump, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and General Franco plus current Spanish politicians have all featured in recent years.
All of the giant statues are burnt in the ‘Crema’ at the end of the Fallas on March 19.
The celebrations date back to the 15th century when carpenters celebrated the arrival of spring by burning wooden planks used to prop up their lamps during winter.
That date is also the feast day of the patron saint of carpenters, San Jose, Valencia’s patron saint.
Valencia’s big showcase event was included on UNESCO’s cultural heritage of humanity list in 2016.
