Playing with Fire
Here in the Comunitat Valenciana, from tiny villages in Castellón to the bustling streets of Valencia or on the beaches of Alicante, people like to set things on fire and to set off pyrotechnics—fireworks of all sorts, shapes, and sizes. It's not just the Fallas in Valencia or the Hogueras de San Juan in Alicante; it's absolutely everywhere - even in the streets and villages of Pinoso. Valencianos always seem ready to put another log on the fire or light the blue touch paper and stand well back at the drop of a hat.
I hoped to find an organised and methodical way to write this, but, in the end, I gave up and plumped for a - places I have been, events I have seen - type list. Some are more commonplace, widespread, than others, some are more spectacular. I think they are probably all have pagan roots. if you live here you won't need to wait long or to travel far to feel the heat from some huge conflagration or listen to the bang bang bang of fireworks. Oh, and if you're thinking of getting married around here or celebrating a first communion, it's de rigueur to visit one of the tens of firework shops that litter the area because, without fireworks, you're not doing your event justice.
Usually, it's on the stroke of two in the afternoon. The thunder will start. A wave of rolling sound. There's not that much to see, lots of flashes and clouds of smoke that grow denser and denser, but more than ever, that noise. The first time I saw one, over 40 years ago and as part of Fallas in Valencia, a man said something to me; seeing I didn't understand, he opened his mouth - Edvard Munch The Scream like. The theory, more urban myth than science I suspect, is that it reduces the pressure in your ears to stop the eardrums from bursting. I try to remember ear plugs nowadays. At best the event only lasts a few minutes. The biggest and best ones make the ground tremble. I saw one in Alicante where a rock band played, then the fireworks took over with rhythm. If it's good, the cheers will be as thunderous as the fireworks. Minutes later, the smoke will clear, the crowd too, and someone else gets to clear up. That's a mascletà.
Usually, it's the carnival queens or it may be a local celeb who lights the touch paper. Even if you miss the fire snaking up the fuse, you will hear the cheer from the onlookers as the whole thing gets underway. Suddenly, the long string of firecrackers connected by hundreds of metres of fuse, hung washing-line-like down the centre of the street, will explode in rapid sequence, The people in the street will be showered by bits of smoking firework debris and sparks as they run away. It's a family one this. Dads and mums, aunts and uncles holding juvenile hands and running, sometimes with umbrellas overhead to ward of debris. The longer ones run a long, long way. Crackling rather than exploding; fireworks nonetheless. That's a traca.
Years and years ago, in Bétera, just outside Valencia, I saw my first corda. At the time, I thought it was one of the maddest things I had ever seen. Like the traca, the fireworks are suspended above the street, but this time they cross the whole street. The effect, once they've set it going, is that there is a waterfall of fire advancing down the street. People waiting in that same main street, retreat. As always it's the lads, of whatever sex and age, nearest the fireworks. Walking behind the curtain of fire people dressed in overalls and crash helmets, carrying fire extinguishers, stride through the smoke. Should anyone stumble they are there to pluck them from the teeth of the firestorm. If you've seen the film The Right Stuff think Chuck Yeager walking away from the smoking wreck of his rocket plane. If you're younger make do with the similar scene with Will Smith in Independence Day. When we did it, the retreating crowd eventually came to a point where they could go back no further. The fireworks stopped a bit short of the crowd, but there was a mad scrum to keep one's footing. I suspect that the modern version is a little more sanitised - health and safety and what not. Oh, and afterwards, gangs of young people, also in Chuck Yeager kit, prowled the streets armed with Roman candle-type fireworks shooting at rival groups. The centre of the town was completely boarded up, and there was not a parked car to be seen.
The reason I suspect it may no longer be quite so visceral is that there used to be something similar on the Nit d'Alba, 13th August, in Elche. After the palmera had gone off (a huge burst of fireworks from atop the basilica) in a city that, this year, used 2.7 tons of gunpowder to set off 86,000 fireworks over 45 minutes, there would be a free-for-all firework shootout in the streets near the basilica. Nowadays, the fights are limited to fenced-off areas, and participants have to do some sort of training course before the event. What's true for Elche is probably good for Betera.
Then there are correfocs, fire runs - the photo at the top. People dressed in devil costumes - devils that ride bikes bursting with fireworks, devils that walk on stilts, devils whose fireworks spit fire - follow a route they fill with flame, sparks, and smoke. The crowd mills around, the devils point fizzing fire sticks at the ground. The youngsters jump over the sparks. People, some with goggles, woolly hats, wound scarves and hoods unintentionally collide with other funseekers as they push, shove and flee from potential immolation. In the olden days, the devils would be defeated by the saints, but nowadays only the devils turn up for the party.
Hoguera, Fogueres in Valenciano, are bonfires. In Pinoso, in the Santa Catalina district in November, people set up the bonfires on sand beds laid out for them by the town hall to keep the tarmac from melting. The embers are used for barbecues, and people set up picnic tables around each bonfire. There were over fifty individual bonfires last year. The Pinoso fogueres/hogueras are not like the Hogueras de San Juan in Alicante. There, they build tall, elaborate artistic tableau - satirical and creative monuments in the majority of the city districts. The climax is the Nit de la Cremà, burning night, on June 24th, when these bonfires are set ablaze in a spectacular display of fire, light, and emotion. Fire crews hose down building facades to keep them from scorching. And, of course, there are mascletas all through the fiestas. Traditionally, there have always been little bonfires on Postiguet beach on the 24th too. Young people write their wishes on slips of paper. The burning papers carry their wishes upwards - to heaven? The youngsters jump the fires or at least they did. I think it's all been banned, not on safety grounds, but because the clean up afterwards costs thousands. Oh, and back in Pinoso, el Faldar now has the tradition of burning a monument for San Juan too.
Fallas, in March, in Valencia and other towns is completely different to San Juan/Saint John in Alicante but it's got some elements that are very similar including mascletás and the big monuments, fallas, to burn. It would be traitorous of me to say that Valencia is more impressive than Alicante but I might think that. Elda has Fallas too but in September.
Finally, a mention for San Antón or Saint Anthony in January. In The Santantonà festival in Forcall, Saints Anthony and Mark are captured by the devils and tied up ready to be burnt in a giant bonfire in the main square. The devils lead their captives around the town with occasional absences in the ranks of the devils as they spy fair maidens whose honour they intend to besmirch. When young women are spotted at the window the young devils clamber up the walls and onto the balconies. I leave the outcome to your imagination. I forget exactly how, but the Saints are rescued though the bonfire burns bright and the devils dance. And everyone else takes selfies with the bonfire in the background.
In Elda, Yecla and Villena there are simple bonfires for San Antón; I'm sure there are lots more. The maddest one I'm aware of though is called La Matxa in Vilanova d'Alcolea in Castellón. Brushwood is laid out down the middle of a series of streets. Once it is on fire, everyone flees before the flames unless they wish to burn. That's where I ran for it. I ran to to escape the flames but also to avoid being trampled underfoot by other spectators fleeing the fire. And did I mention the horses and riders mixed in with them who also jump over the flames? Later young people dance through, and leap over, the flames. Some of those lads (same definition), worse for drink, stumble and trip on the burning brushwood but dashing firefighters, in full kit, are everywhere to snatch them from the arms of the fire.
At Christmas in Elche and Petrer youngsters, and the not so young, whirl burning esparto grass around their heads to make sure that the Three Kings don't fail to notice the town and deliver the appropriate gifts. I'm sure there are more but I've already gone on too much. Just look around, and you'll bump into them. Fire and fireworks are big in Valencia.
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