At the end of the parade of dolls, they are burned in honor of St. Joseph, patron saint of carpentry.
In case you were wondering what happened to your daily dose of ideas over the weekend, we were all in Valencia, soaking up the insanity of the city’s Las Fallas festival. Staged annually on March 19th, this centuries-old festival has become a four-day extravaganza that attracts thousands of domestic and international tourists to the city every year. The event traces its origins back to a custom of the city’s carpenters, who burned their scrap wood and utensils worn out from the winter in time for the feast of Saint Joseph – their patron saint – on March 19th. The “Fallas” were the piles of combustible materials gathered for the occasion.
The modern festival took shape in the late 19th Century, when prizes began to be awarded for the most creative use of the leftover materials. Over time, the festival has become a focus of artistic creativity and often searing social commentary that even caused the event to be banned for a time in the 1870s. Today more than 700 Fallas large and small are created each year.
Click the pic to take a look at some more pictures courtesy of Odd Stuff Magazine.