Las Fallas: almost 300 years of history of a festival that those in power have tried to tame

ValenciaOn one hand, there's a small effigy, barely over a meter tall, of the current president of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, who, when he looks in a mirror, sees the image of his predecessor, Carlos Mazón, and not his own. On the other, there's a gigantic figure of an enchanting odalisque, a captivating magician, or a sardonic pirate presiding over a monumental falla, but whose connection to current events is as tenuous as fog. These two possibilities—a work critical and engaged with its time, and a construction that merely aspires to impress with its aesthetic appeal—represent the two sides of a festival with almost 300 years of history, a festival that has been an instrument of popular expression and social protest, but which those in power have sought to tame.

The story of this evolution begins in Valencia around 1750, when the burning of "old junk," including effigies, was incorporated into the celebrations surrounding Saint Joseph—whose feast day is March 19—the patron saint of carpenters. The festival takes place in early spring and is part of a series of rituals celebrating the end of the rainy season and the arrival of warmth and fertility. According to Vicent Baydal, PhD in medieval history, the purifying nature of fire evolves into a "sanctioning or judgmental" role when the bonfires begin to take on more elaborate forms and the figures become more human-like, giving rise to the first effigies condemned for their "inappropriate behavior." It's still a very small festival, with only six or seven monuments throughout the city, which are erected and burned on the same day, March 18th, the eve of the festival. Although carpenters help out, it's primarily driven by the local residents.

Taxes and censorship: the first control strategy

During the 19th century, the Fallas festival became independent from the celebration of Saint Joseph and acquired a satirical element. It was then that the figures began to represent recognizable characters from social and political life, and fallas books appeared to explain the scenes. The earliest surviving book dates from 1855 and is the work of the writer Josep Bernat i Baldoví from Sueca. The growing popularity of the festival, however, began to worry the Valencia City Council, which demanded its approval of all monuments, books, and posters. Furthermore, in 1851, due to political instability, the City Council prohibited the celebration, an order that was disobeyed by the falleros (members of the Fallas committees). The City Council complemented its control strategy with the imposition of high fees and taxes. One of the high points of this approach occurred in 1883, when a tax of 30 pesetas was levied. In response, only four commissions erected their monuments. The situation was repeated in 1884. And a year later, economic restrictions meant that only one falla was erected. Finally, in 1886, faced with a tax of 60 pesetas, no commission organized the festival.

Change of tactics: now the prizes

With the turn of the century, the ruling classes changed their tactics. In 1901, they created awards for artistic merit, which would serve to shape a canon that all groups wishing to stand out would have to respect. This gave rise to what Baydal calls "apologetic fallas," those that, instead of criticizing, exalted "some element of the culture of power, such as a figure or something political." Monuments were erected, for example, in honor of mayors of Valencia, within the city itself, or in defense of Spain's war against Morocco. It was at this time that the fallas grew, reaching around thirty in the city of Valencia. Subsequently, the committees were formed, and the festival was extended to the 19th. Fireworks and marching bands also gained prominence. This effervescence multiplied in the 1920s and 30s, transforming the festival into a "massive and tourist-oriented" celebration, with around a hundred committees and its expansion to other cities such as Alzira, Sagunto, Gandía, Burriana, and Alcoy. Furthermore, the Plantà is brought forward to the 16th, key events such as the Llamada (1931), the Noche del Fuego (1932) and the Exposición del Ninot (1934) are initiated, and the unofficial anthem of the festival (1929), the pasodoble, is created. The fallero, The work of Maximiliano Thous and Josep Serrano—the former an important figure in Valencian political thought at the time, and the latter a prominent musician—also features the role of Fallera Mayor as a "mixture of queens from aristocratic festivities and beauty pageants." As a counterpoint to the objectification of women, it is noteworthy that in 1930 there were as many as eight fallas composed entirely of women, and that in 1932 we find the first female president of a falla commission, Pilar Muñoz, of the Doctor Simarro-Jai Alai group.

"Although these were years in which the tourist aspect of the festival was promoted with the launch of a Fallas train from Madrid and a ship for emigrants to Argentina, Uruguay, or Brazil, it was also a period in which the festival was imbued with the effervescent Valencian spirit of Josep Lluís the Association of Fallas StudiesThe scholar points out little-known facts such as that even then, the Valencianist Action Center offered a linguistic correction service to the committees, or that popular culture magazines such as Thought Out and Done They had such prominent authors as Carlos Salvador or Maximiliano Thous.

Francoism: purge and total control

The darkest period for the festival came under the Francoist dictatorship, which carried out a massive purge. "Of the Fallas members registered in 1936, only 13% remained by 1943," denounces sociologist and historian Gil-Manuel Hernández. The researcher emphasizes that the Civil War marked "a turning point in the celebration and is the period that has most profoundly shaped it." This is hardly surprising considering the words of Martí Domínguez, then the Councilor for Culture of the Valencia City Council, who made it clear that the fascist regime was not prepared to "allow" even "the slightest allusion to recent events" in the monuments and that the Fallas should be a "display of Christian values." These words proved to be true, as demonstrated by data collected by Baydal, which shows that in 1957, 94% of the Fallas monuments erected were subject to some form of censorship. To enforce this control, the regime replaced the Central Fallas Committee with a Central Fallas Board under the City Council. Furthermore, the Fallas Queen was now chosen by the mayor from among families loyal to the regime, and the still-present Offering to the Virgin of the Forsaken was established. "At the beginning of the 20th century, the ruling classes shaped the content of the Fallas festival, and Francoism shaped the entire festival," notes Josep Lluís Marín, who points out that this is not an isolated phenomenon, and that the same thing happened with the Seville April Fair, Holy Week in Andalusia, the Cádiz Carnival, and the Fiesta.

A hijacked festival?

And with the arrival of democracy, has the festival been able to rid itself of Francoist censorship and recover its critical edge? According to a member of the Association of Fallas Studies, "not to a large extent," because the large monuments, which set the standard, prioritize winning prizes, maintain an "escapist" character, and only refer to current events and their most controversial elements in small figures, but never in the main ones. However, he points out that there is also an alternative circuit called Innovative and Experimental Failures Around which orbit up to 35 commissions – 7% of the city's total – that do have a markedly reformist spirit.

Regarding the reasons for the stagnation of some sectors, Marín points out that the festival "carries an inertia" for which elites "who are not permeable to social changes" and who are "entrenched" in a Central Fallas Board, which he claims "is an organization that expels those who are scattered." Sociologist Gil-Manuel Hernández agrees, lamenting that the directors of this entity have been "the same for decades" and that they have a close relationship with conservative parties and anti-Catalan sentiment. However, he emphasizes that there is a progressive renewal in the other segments of the community and highlights the results of a survey commissioned in 2017 by the Valencia City Council. According to the survey, 45.4% of members of the Fallas community identified as left-wing or center-left, compared to 25.7% who identified as right-wing or center-right, and 21.5% as centrist. "These figures show a more progressive stance than that of the city's residents as a whole, breaking down stereotypes and demonstrating that a minority with mafia-like behavior has hijacked the festival," the survey concludes.