Everyone sat down and relaxed for quite awhile after the globotá, which involved me giving so many massages that my hands cramped the next day. I'm going to start charging. Everyone was so exhausted from so many days of partying that we all just sat around and stared at each other like zombies, waiting for the time to burn the falla, the moment that fallas has been building up to. First to go was the falla infantil, the aquarium. It was something beautiful watching all that work go up in flames. Of course it had to start with petardos, explosions leading up to the falla where we had poured some gasolina, and WHOOSH. There it goes! When the fire was almost done the kids got into a circle and danced around the fire singing.
off with a bang
we be a-burning!
Next: falla grande. Now THAT was something fantastic. We rigged up a dragon on a line, and to start the fire we lighted it's mouth, it took off down the line, flying towards the falla, then BOOM! Fireworks and FIRE. Most tourists don't understand why someone would spend a year building something so beautiful just to burn it. I didn't understand either until that moment. Watching all that work, seeing all my falleros full of emotion, I cried a little, like a good fallera. It is something powerful. To me, it reminded me that material things just aren't that important, they don't last. You can spend a lifetime building something, but in one moment it can go up in flames. For a lot of others and historically burning the falla signifies the beginning of spring, burning all the bad emotions, memories, and leftover wood from the winter. Either way, you can't help but feel a heat wave of emotion and a feeling of cleansing.
getting the falla rigged up for the cremá
the dragon
off with a bang
we be a-burning!
getting the falla rigged up for the cremá
the dragon
the heat wave of emotion
it's going....
it's going...
it's gone!
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