Festival is an event that makes
every people happy and enjoyable by participating. It usually occurs annually,
which each of them is different and unique depending on countries. Kingdom of
Spain, located on Iberian Peninsula, is a country known for festival kingdom.
Fiesta, means festival in Spanish, is not only very popular among people in
Spain, but also famous and popular among the people across the world. In the
first blog, I would talk about one of Spain’s festival. Of many celebrations
that exist in Spain, Las Fallas is one of the festivals that is well-known and
thus a traditional events commenced and organized annually during March by the
cooperation of people of Valencia and the Valencia Community.
In English, Las Fallas means
fire. The name of the festival is very simple since they use fire to celebrate
the event. Las Fallas, or fire festival, takes place in Valencia. Valencia is
one of the prefectures of Spain and the name of the celebration derived from
Valencian language. This even is a celebration of commemorating Saint Joseph, a
father of Jesus Christ. Las fallas continues for 5 days (Spain Travel Guide).
During these days, people gather for parties and enjoy throwing fireworks.
Nitos is the huge monument or
puppet used at this festival. It is indispensable items in the Las Fallas. The
nitos are creates according to the theme. The group is formed of variety of
artisans, sculptures, and painters who contribute large amount of time constructing
this huge puppet. Las Fallas is composed of three processions, which are
historical, religious, and comedic processions (Euro Residents). Each
procession is very outstanding that catch people’s eyes.
The festival begins from 8:00 am
every morning with brass bands marching downs streets. At 2:00 pm, fireworks
with decorations are displayed to the observers. After ten days, the event
called L’Ofrena floral takes place. In this event, each monument, known as fallas, receives an offering of flowers
to Saint Mary (Wikipedia, 2012).
La Crema is
probably the most famous event happens in the festival of Las Fallas. What
happens is that on March 19th, all fallas are burnt with fire in the
midnight. The name comes from the word “crema” which means to burn down or burning.
La Crema is the climax of the celebration and is the end of Las Fallas. The
fireman in the last douse water to houses that were placed near where fallas
were burnt to make sure fire does not spread to houses (Wikipedia, 2012).
The history of
Las Fallas is still not certain. There are many other suppositions however; the
most convincing fact is that it began during the Middle Ages. It was first
started by the artisans who burnt disposable woods or leftovers to celebrate
the coming of the spring season. As the time changed people started to combine
the celebration of coming spring and commemoration of Saint Joseph (Why Go
Spain). The festival plays important role for people in the Spain, particularly
people in Valencia, as it is indispensable episode of their life.
"Las Fallas." Spain
Travel Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012.
<http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/festivals/las-fallas/>.
"LAS FALLAS." LAS FALLAS. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 13 June 2012.
<http://www.euroresidentes.com/Fiestas/fallas.htm>.
"Festival in Valencia: Las
Fallas." WhyGo Spain. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012.<http://www.spaintravelguide.com/festival-in-valencia-las-fallas.html>.
I think especially Valencia region has lots of famous festival. The spanish festivals are also famous in Korea, too. Actually, I don't know Las Fallas. However, La Tomatina is really famous in Korea as the tomato festival. It has been held on Bunol in Valencia region. By the way, I wonder that why particularly spanish festival become the global festival? The reason I think like this is I've never heard other countries' festival. However, I heard a lot of spanish festival. So, there are some reasons that spanish festivals have global reputation. I think not only good content but ethnic character also affect this phenomenon. Since spanish is usually dynamic and enjoy their lives like siesta. What do you think? What make the spanish festival become global festival?
ReplyDeleteI saw the festival with tomato in Spain. And do you know the name of this festival? it was introduced on tv in korea and i was so interested about that festival.
ReplyDeleteI have seen many festivals of different countries from documentary programs. Those festivals seems very symbolic to their culture. I remember that I have learned in High school that Japan is a country full of Matsuri, and people actually participate in it very actively. For me, I don't have a single piece of memory going to such 'cultural' festival during my 18 years in Korea. Um, shame on me? There must be an event somewhere in my country. I think I should find one during this summer vacation. Your blog post gave me a good inspiration for summer vacation plan. Thank you!
ReplyDelete