sculpture, and we often found them
gathering to celebrate, with music
played by DJs, or traditional musicians,
and always lots of food and fun.
Another highlight of Las Fallas is
the Ofrenda de las Flores—the offer-
ing of flowers to the Virgin Mary. On
two days, always between 4:00 pm
and 1:00 am, thousands of women,
men and children dressed in beautiful
traditional costume walked through
the center of Valencia to the plaza de
la Virgen behind the Cathedral. The
women and children carried beautiful
flower bouquets which were then
mounted onto a giant wooden statue
of the Virgin Mary. All the while, local
musicians were playing in the streets.
Over 100,000 Valencians represent-
ing various neighborhoods took part
in this tradition. We were in awe and
spent hours watching them.
Of course, you cannot write about
Las Fallas without mentioning La
Mascletá (pyrotechnic event) and all
the firecrackers and fireworks through-
out the city and in every neighbor-
hood. The pyrotechnics continued
day and night; unlike any we had
seen before. La Mascleta was staged
in front of the Plaça de l’Ajuntament
at Valencia’s City Hall. Hundreds of
thousands of people gathered there. We
kept at a cautious distance at first, but
on the second day we decided to go
with the crowds to experience things
fully. We were squeezed like sardines
among the crowd, waiting for an hour
or more. Everyone was anticipating
Las Mascleta’s intensity of sight and
sound even though the entire display
was completed in a matter of minutes,
climaxing with a huge explosion of
There were more than 800 sculptures on display
throughout the city and surrounding neighborhoods.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
august/september 2019
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