Viernes- Otro Desfile y La Globotá

Viernes, friday, the last day of fallas. I woke up at 10:30am (WOW sooo early!) to get dressed for the parade at 1pm. The process of putting on the traditional Valencian dress took us about an hour, mostly because the dress didn't fit quite right and a lot of pins were involved. My falla dresses in estilo folklórico (folk style) which means it's not as flashy and fancy as other dresses. Of course, me being me, liked our style better.

all dressed and ready!

Process of putting on a dress:
-under skirt to make the dress poof out more
-under shirt
-skirt for the outside (which weighs a ton and pulls down on your hips)
-jacket that is like a corset
-a million scarves and stuff to decorate it
-earrings, necklaces, etc
- the hat, which reminded me of what Santa's elves wear
-socks and shoes, the most uncomfortable shoes I've ever worn

getting ready

too much fiesta

We all got together at the casal and lined up for the walk through our 'territory.' Each falla has a specific territory where they are allowed to have their parades and etc. After a false alarm (we started our parade with a band that wasn't ours) off we went, the women arm in arm with the men, proud valencianos. The vecinos, neighbors, came out on their balconies or in the street to watch. It was a short parade and afterwards we, well, at least Lucia and I, escaped back to our houses to put on more comfortable clothes. All in all, I really liked the experience of dressing like a fallera and parading through the streets. Not everyone in the Earlham program got that experience, and I'm super super grateful my falla doesn't do the Ofrenda, which would mean 4 hours or more in those shoes.

the adults

traditional dress for the boys

traditional dress for the girls

The activity for the kids today was the globotá. Hundreds of balloons were blown up (my falla has a lot of hot air, haha) and hung. Little nails were passed out and when your color was called it was your turn to go balistic and pop as many balloons as possible. Globotá is a play on word: mascletá is the explosions in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento which I've already described, and globos means balloons. Ah yes my falla is a skilled wordsmith. The noise of all the kids screaming with enjoyment and all the balloons popping was really quite fun.

balloons!