The month of February is the beginning of the Fallas in Valencia, probably the most important event in the whole year. Altough the main events are happening in March, February is still packed with some unmissable happenings.
La Crida – the opening ceremony of the Fallas
Sunday 25th February is an important date to put down in your agenda. It’s the day when the Fallas officially start with a ceremony called La Crida, which means “a call” in Valencian. The Fallera Mayor of Valencia (the Queen of the Fallas), which is selected from all the Falleras within all the committees in Valencia, invites people of Valencia as well as all the tourists to come and join the celebrations. La Crida takes place at Torres de Serranos at 8 p.m. What can you look forward to? All the main authorities of the town participate in the event as well as the members of all Fallas committees. The speeches of the Fallera Mayor and the Fallera Mayor Infantil (the child Queen of the Fallas) are followed by the anthem of Valencia and spectacular fireworks.
At 2 o’clock in the afternoon we advise you to go and see the first Mascletà in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Mascletá is basically a concert of gunpowder that takes around 6-7 minutes. If you can’t make it, don’t worry. The city council organizes Mascletàs every day at 2 p.m from the 1st of March till 19th of March so you will have plenty of time to catch up.
The Ninot exhibition
The “ninots” are pieces of the huge monuments that each Fallas committee constructs in the course of the year and later from the 15th of March they are exhibited in the streets of Valencia. At the beginning of February each committee chooses their best piece to exhibit. The exhibition is divided into two parts – “ninots” of children’s monuments and “ninots” of big monuments. In total you can admire more than 800 “ninots”. The visitors of the exhibition can vote for the piece they like best. The winning “ninot” will be saved from fire at the end of the Fallas (the day of St. Joseph).
You can visit the exhibition in the City of Arts and Sciences from Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m to 8 p.m. and from Friday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The entrance for adults is only 3 euros and it’s open till 15th of March.
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