In Valencia, we build these giants to burn them

A monumental sculpture dominates the square, but its future is already known: it will burn at the end of the festival. At the Fallas de Valence, the artists compose ensembles of cartoon characters, the ninots. The work attracts the eye while commenting on social issues and current events, often on the mode of satire.

Destruction is therefore not an accident that would interrupt the project. It belongs to the cycle of the celebration of March. Around the monuments spread fanfares, meals outside and pyrotechnic events. The visible show is based on trades, families and organizations that prepare the constructions and transmit the necessary techniques to realize them.

UNESCO inscribed this practice in 2016 by highlighting its collective creativity. Forms and subjects are renewed: tradition allows us to speak about the present. Reducing the Fallas to a big fire would miss the work that precedes it, the relationships between participants and these sculpted comments whose lifespan is voluntarily limited.