Faith, Trust, and Community

Let's see. So Sunday I woke up and made it down to breakfast, then I came back up to my room and chilled for a bit. I needed it after how late I was up Saturday night. Then I went to the mascletà, which was an... interesting experience. I am used to the mascletà being crowded, but this was a whole new experience.

Alexz had advised me to go early, so I went at 1 for a mascletà at 2, I was going to go stand in front of town hall, but I got about 100 feet away, and just gave up. Because the crowd was so thick I actually could not move any further. It was insane. People were pushing and shoving and generally just packed in like sardines. But I was in the shade, and I had no option but to sit and wait, so I played on my phone, and eavesdropped, and it was fun. Since apparently some people (not people in Valencia, but people from other places) actually have to work, Saturday and Sunday were the days with the most people here, including at the mascletà. But I suppose that it was also a bit dangerous, because the Red Cross people had a STRATEGY for getting to people who were getting claustrophobic or heatstroke in the crowd. And after a little bit of grumbling, the crowd got with the picture and the Red Cross quickly became the only people who could get through the crowd. I saw one girl trying to get through with a suitcase. Now that was a bad idea.

But the mascletà itself was just as wonderful as always. There were more colors Sunday, which I always like, but its really the sounds that make it all worth it, and where we were standing with how the wind was blowing meant that we got showered in ash and cardboard from the explosions that went off in the air, and everybody was just standing there with little pieces in their hair and all over their clothes. But when it was over everybody cleared out, and I tried to find my way back to the dorm with the minimum number of traffic jams. It took a while, but I did get back. I then had an excellent lunch, and went upstairs and took a nice nap. I like naps. I also need naps with the insanity of my current sleep schedule. Seriously, I've become nocturnal. It's like middle school all over again. Except WAY better than middle school.

So then I sat in my room and chilled for a bit. After dinner I went out again, and went to a folk dancing thing. It was pretty cool. The dances were impressive, and the music fun. The costumes were impressive, of course, and it was just a nice break to stand and watch some talented people do their thing. It was also all in Valenciano, which I understood surprisingly well. So yay!

Afterwards, I went back to the dorms and met Alexz at 12:15 to go to fireworks. We walked there together and just chatted, and when we got there we sat on the ground and waited for the fireworks. It was nice. Right before the fireworks, we also found some of the girls from UGA and we stood with them for the show.

I really love going to the fireworks. I mean, the fireworks are incredible, and tonight's are going to be even better, but part of what I love is what happens before the fireworks. Around midnight (for fireworks at 1am) all these people start moving towards the río, from all directions. We all walk down the middle of the street, some people set off firecrackers, there are big groups and small groups, and people of all ages, and it almost feels like a pilgrimage or a migration, with this whole mass of humanity moving, almost instinctively towards the bridge where the fireworks go off. And the city is all lit up and beautiful and alive, and then when we all get there, everyone is standing around talking and drinking and sitting and laughing and it's very relaxed, but still full of energy. And then 10 minutes before the fireworks start, they shoot off a single firework, like a signal, and everybody cheers, then five minutes before, they turn off the streetlights, and it's like a signal. Everybody stands up and calms down, and turns towards where the show will be.

Then the show itself starts, and it is much like the mascletà, in that suddenly everybody is focused and in synch. We all face the same direction and are mostly silent, but it's also like going to the midnight premiere of a movie, because everybody is cheering and clapping at the right moments, and ooohing and aaahing, and the display is the the best fireworks I've seen this side of Gandalf, and the finale is so big and impressive, and at points you feel like you need sunglasses or have to shield your eyes, because it is so bright. But it's also like the mascletà, because while the focus isn't on the sound, that's part of the show too. Different fireworks make different noises, and they can shoot them off silently or with a pop, and then the finale you can always feel in your bones like you can the mascletà, and it is amazing.

And then it's over, and everybody reverses the pilgrimage, going back, mostly towards the Carmen (historic center of town. that's where I live) but to all over, and it's just a beautiful and complete experience.

So on Sunday I came back and watched some TV, and talked to people, and took a much needed shower (I smelled like gunpowder. Seriously.), and went to bed.

Once again, I woke up fairly late, but I did make it to breakfast, and then went out wandering for a little while while the maid cleaned my room (which it desperately needed). I saw some of the fallas, and then a TON of marching bands. There were all these mini-parades all over the city and they kind of went on all day with the falleras and the bands walking around and it was nuts. But kind of fun, because you'd be walking down the street, and all these people in insane costumes would show up and there would be music that you could sort of dance to, and it was nice.

I admit the bands are less fun when you are trying to take a nap, but...

So then I came back to the dorm and Jess and I went down to the Plaza del Toros (I think you'd call it a Bullring in English, but I honestly don't know. It's where the bullfights go down

looks like that) to buy our tickets. They were a little expensive, but after some persuading I bought a ticket for today, so that's the plan for after lunch. I'll keep you updated.

So then we walked around for a bit, and Jess got a thing of cotton candy that was bigger than her head, and I helped her eat it, and we got caught behind some more bands and saw a crowd of probably 100 falleras, and just generally enjoyed the insanity that is las Fallas.

Then we came back for relaxation and lunch before going to the ofrenda. The ofrenda is the most obviously religious part of las Fallas. The falleras all walk from wherever their falla is to the Plaza de la Virgen, which is where the cathedral is, and bring flowers to the Virgin of the Forsaken that is in the plaza. They do this for hours over two days, and the flowers that the falleras bring are put into the wooden frame and become the robe of the Virgin. It is incredibly beautiful, if a bit difficult to find a spot to watch it.

So this is the Virgin, as she looked yesterday at 3pm.

And that's how she looked when I went to the fireworks last night. The rest of the flowers will go up today.

And according to Jess it pretty much shuts down the city, so that the falleras can walk through uninterrupted, but I think it's pretty cool.

So then after a few minutes at the ofrenda, I came home and took a nice long nap. I woke up fairly late and chilled and ate dinner, and then Jess and I walked over to the fireworks around midnight. We chatted and walked, and the fireworks were spectacular, and then we came back, and I went to bed.

So the longer Fallas goes on the more I understand it. And it's a festival about a lot of things: pyromania, showing off for your neighbors, eating good food, not having to work, nominally something about Saint Joseph, and a whole host of other things, but recently there have been a few aspects of Fallas that have stood out to me.

The first is what an act of faith las Fallas is. I don't mean religious faith, though there is an element of that, especially in the ofrenda, but... there's an article dad showed me, or told me about, or- point being the following concept is not mine but someone else's! So this guy had this idea that everybody believes in something, even if you proclaim to be an atheistic nihilist, there is something that you believe in. BUT he also argues that what people profess to believe in (usually a religious kind of faith) is often not what they actually believe in. He argues that what we allow to drive our lives, what motivates us, what we care about, the values we ACTUALLY live our lives by, that's what we believe in. And everybody has faith like that, even if we aren't consciously aware of it.

And that's really true of las Fallas. Yes, technically it has a religious purpose- it's the feast day of Saint Joseph, but that's not actually what people in Fallas have faith in. However, that also doesn't mean that Fallas not an act of faith. Because it absolutely is. It is a profession of both communal and individual faith in... a lot of things. It's the act of believing in joy and beauty and creativity and of faith in the city and the falleros and falleras and the artists that they will make this festival amazing and memorable and special. It's about making that pilgrimage to the río for the fireworks or to the Virgin for the ofrenda or the plaza del ayuntamiento for the maslcetà. People come because they believe that there is something worth seeing.

And then Fallas requires an almost impossible level of trust. Each casal faller has to trust their artists to make a falla that is safe and impressive and fits the intended message of the casal faller. The citizens and the tourists have to trust the city and the police and the fire department and the Red Cross  all of whom are working incredibly hard right now to make sure that everything goes smoothly and that no one dies or gets hurt and that they will know what to do. Especially for foreigners, wandering around an unfamiliar city at 1am, you have to trust that the city is doing its job and that his festival is a good thing.

But the reason for all the faith and trust is that they create a community, which, I think is ultimately the purpose of las Fallas. Because everything in Fallas brings people together. The casal fallers have to come together to think of and design and (hire artists to) build the fallas, and then people come together from all over the city and the country and the world to see these monuments, and they gather in these places to see fireworks or dancing or to watch the ofrenda, or hear the mascletà. And even standing amongst those strangers it is a kind of community, where you know you are all united by this moment, a common experience, a common emotion, of watching or hearing something absolutely unique and ephemeral. And for my part it is moving and humbling to be able to witness these great acts of faith and trust, and to be a part of this community, for however short a time it may last.