Saturday, March 23, 2013

Sunmin Lee/Festival/Tue 9-11

 

Imagine the whole city is wrapped in big flames. You might think a large fire has broken out in the city and try to call 911. However, this is one of the most famous festival scenes in Valencia, the third largest city of Spain. From March 15 to 19, the festival Las Fallas is held in commemoration of Saint Joseph and during the days, Valencia is given over to a celebration of fire, explosions, music and huge parades.

 

At the beginning of March, before the festival, the whole city is already in an air of festival. Every corner of streets is decorated with colorful ornaments and lights. But the most notable thing of the festival is Ninots, sculptures made of wood and paper by many artists of the city. These sculptures are very large, often larger than 20 feet tall, and they satirize famous political figures, movie stars or other characters from TV, sports idols and so on. The Ninots take months of work to be designed and built and they are exhibited on the streets before 15th of March, the official first day of the festival.

The five days and nights of Fallas are a continuous party of fireworks and parades. From the first day of the festival, you can hear loud sounds of fireworks and explosions every minute. These fireworks of Fallas are called Mascletàs. Every day, large fireworks start at 2pm at the main squares of the city and everyone from small children to elderly people gather in the streets to enjoy the festival. And the people, both young and old, do the parade altogether wearing Valencian traditional costumes. Women wear beautiful heavy dresses and men also wear their costumes called Saragüells and march with the band through the streets. With these festive parades and loud firecrackers, Las Fallas is known as one of the most vibrant festivals in the world.

Around midnight of the last day of Las Fallas, you can see the climax of the whole event, which is called Cremà(the burning). All the famous monuments and sculptures are burnt brightly across the whole city between 19th and 20th of March. Also people in the street throw anything considered to be no longer of use into the huge flames so they can start a fresh spring season.

Every year, over 3 million people from all around the world visit Valencia to enjoy the parades of thousands of people with huge sculptures filling the streets and, of course, impressive fireworks. That's why Fallas is considered as the biggest street party in Europe. If you're not deterred by loud noises of fireworks, it would be the best festival to experience Spanish culture, full of passion and exotic beauty.

4 comments:

  1. 1. I think the last sentence of the first paragraph is the thesis statement that shows the progress
    2. Yes. These sculptures are very large, often larger than 20 feet tall, and they satirize famous political figures, movie stars or other characters from TV, sports idols and so on
    3. Yes.
    4. Yes.It's in a time sequence
    5. The writer has many details.
    6. Yes it includes evaluation.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. To Sunmin Lee From Ju Hye Choi

    1. What I liked about this piece of writing is that I knew nothing about this event but the writing described the event very well. The hook was grabbing and made me want to go to Valencia sometime during March! :)
    2. Your main point seems to be that although one could mistaken him or herself that the city is wrapped in flame, it is just the people in Valencia celebrating Las Fallas which is one of the biggest street parties in Europe because of its energy, loud noises and fireworks.
    3. These particular words of lines struck me as powerful:
    -Also people in the street throw anything considered to be no longer of use into the huge flames so they can start a fresh spring season.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Imagine the whole city is wrapped in big flames. You might think a large fire has broken out in the city and try to call 911. However, this is one of the most famous festival scenes in Valencia, the third largest city of Spain. From March 15 to 19, the festival Las Fallas is held in commemoration of Saint Joseph and during the days, Valencia is given over to a celebration of fire, explosions, music and huge parades.
    At the beginning of March, before the festival, the whole city is already in an air of festival. Every corner of streets is decorated with colorful ornaments and lights. But the most notable thing is Ninots, sculptures made of wood and paper by many artists of the city. These sculptures are very large, often larger than 20 feet tall, and they satire on famous political figures, movie stars or sports idols and so on. The Ninots take months of work to be designed and built and they are exhibited on the streets before 15th of March, the official first day of the festival.
    The five days and nights of Fallas are full of fireworks and parades. From the first day of the festival, you can hear loud sounds of fireworks and explosions every minute. These fireworks are called Mascletàs. Every day, large fireworks start at 2pm at the main squares of the city and everyone from small children to elderly people gather in the streets to enjoy the festival. And they do the parade altogether wearing Valencian traditional costumes. Women wear beautiful heavy dresses and men also wear their costumes called Saragüells and march with the band through the streets. With these festive parades and loud fireworks, Las Fallas is known as one of the most vibrant festivals in the world.
    Around midnight of the last day of Las Fallas, you can see the climax of the whole event, which is called Cremà(the burning). All the famous monuments and sculptures are burnt brightly across the whole city. Also people in the streets throw anything considered to be no longer of use into the huge flames. So for Spanish people, the festival is not just a party to enjoy but also a ritual for a fresh new spring season
    Every year, over 3 million people from all around the world visit Valencia to enjoy the parades of thousands of people, huge sculptures filling the streets and, of course, impressive fireworks. That's why Fallas is considered as the biggest street party in Europe. If you don’t mind the loud noises of fireworks, Las Fallas would be the best festival to experience Spanish culture, full of passion and exotic beauty.

    ReplyDelete