This Sunday should have been a holiday, if not possible. At least, for the hundreds of Valencians who kick off the Fallas celebration with the Crida and its festivities. From early in the day, massive events were scheduled, such as a macrodespertà in which hundreds of people make a walk through the city center deafening when the tro de bac is fired; an entrance of marching bands or a mascletà, the first that these Fallas would be fired in the cage in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento.
It is the first time in democracy that the Crida has been suspended due to a tragedy. In 2021 it was not celebrated either due to the pandemic and ended up being virtual. This Sunday there will be silence. The city has a lot to mourn.
The Valencia tragedy canceled all festive activities on Thursday night as a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims in a large city that weaves many social relationships through the Fallas. The greatest fallera of Valencia, Mª Estela Arlandis, the most representative figure of her, pointed out after the suspension of the events that the world of the Fallas is “with its eyes and heart in the Campanar neighborhood.”
In Valencia, other equally sad Fallas are remembered with no little closeness, not counting those not celebrated during the pandemic. They are those of March 2004, when the jihadist attacks in Madrid that March 11 silenced the celebration, silencing its thunderous celebration. That morning the City Hall workers who were hanging the poster announcing the fireworks that were going off that day had to do just the opposite, take it down, when shortly before eight in the morning the bombs exploded in Madrid.
That sad month of March, the Valencia City Council decided to cancel all activities planned in the 2004 Fallas program during the three days of national mourning decreed by the Government – from Friday to Saturday and Sunday – as a result of the attacks. . The March festival was very different that year.
On Thursday, the Fallera Central Board showed its support for the affected families and “for all those who have really worked to extinguish that fire.” They will look for new dates to accommodate the festive events scheduled this weekend, such as the Fallas Culture Gala, which was going to be held on Thursday afternoon and which was canceled at the last minute due to the fateful event.
After the declaration of three days of official mourning in the Valencian Community, the Generalitat Valenciana left the decision to celebrate festive events in the hands of the municipalities. For example, the Castellón City Council, which also started its founding festivities of La Magdalena this weekend, announced that it was moving “all institutional events” to Monday, February 26.
Dismayed by what happened, the Fallas commissions have also shown their solidarity and many have activated their headquarters as places to collect material. Among them, three Fallas commissions from the Campanar neighborhood have opened their centers to deliver clothing, blankets, school supplies, personal hygiene and children’s food. The neighboring commission of the Safranar residential building, where the residents of the burned building will be relocated, has also activated a collection of material.
