M
ark and
I love
to travel
and over the years we’ve been to many
places, including Australia, Switzerland,
Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
India and China. There’s an amazing
world outside California and the US so
worth exploring. Our trip this year to
Valencia, Spain was a perfect example,
and it was nothing short of incredible!
A few years back, Mark came across
photos showing the work of sculptors
whose creations are on display every
year during a spring celebration known
as Las Fallas which is held in Valencia.
Skilled crews of artisans from across
the region work for months to create
hundreds of larger-than-life sculptures,
crafted from polystyrene foam, card-
board, papier-mâché and plaster and
then gloriously painted. Plaques in
front of the sculptures provide back-
ground about the artists’ work.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
august/september 2019
Mark is an artist himself, and we
both are huge art lovers. Las Fallas is
so unique it quickly advanced to the
top of our list of places to visit. We are
so glad we did.
As for the origin of Las Fallas, there
may be some variation on the stories
handed down over generations. One
version suggests that the festival can
be traced back to the Middle Ages,
when artisans marked the beginning
of spring by cleaning out their studios
and burning used, damaged or dis-
carded wood and other artifacts that
were no longer needed. Over the
years, the Church persuaded the
artisans to have their celebration
of spring coincide with the festival
of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of
carpenters. Today, Valencia is Spain’s
third largest city, and Las Fallas has
become so popular it typically attracts
over a million people for two weeks of
celebrating the arts.
gmhtoday.com
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