Traditions of Valencia
The city of Las Fallas, when huge satirical sculptures are built and burned in March, and of the original paella.
Valencia is a port city on the Mediterranean, with its own language, Valencian, and a distinct set of customs. Its biggest festival, Las Fallas, is a week of fire, fireworks and satirical monuments. The rice fields of the nearby Albufera lagoon gave rise to paella.
Las Fallas
Neighbourhood committees spend the year building ninots, large painted figures, which are displayed in the streets in March. On the night of 19 March, the Nit de la Cremà, they are burnt in huge bonfires, with one saved by public vote. Each afternoon at 2, the mascletà, a thunderous daytime fireworks show, shakes the plaza.
At the table
Authentic paella valenciana is cooked on a wood fire with rabbit, chicken, green beans and rice, with saffron. Horchata, a cold drink of tiger nuts, is served with fartons, sweet rolls. Buñuelos, fritters, are eaten during Fallas. Oranges come from nearby groves.
Signature traditions of Valencia
Also part of it, and being written: Paella (The rice dish.), Horchata (The tiger nut drink.), Tribunal de las Aguas (The water court.).
A trail idea for Valencia
- Mercado Central Buy oranges and ham.
- Albufera Eat paella by the lagoon.
- City of Arts and Sciences See modern design.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Water Tribunal of the plain of Valencia: José Jordan, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo, source
- Cremà: Paula Ramírez Morant, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Feast of Corpus Christi: Fennec ., Public domain, source
- Zaragüelles: Isidoro Marín Garés, Public domain, source
- Mascletà: Pablo Enzo, Public domain, source
- Caganer: Roeland P., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bullfighting: No machine-readable author provided. Manuel González Olaechea assumed, CC BY 3.0, source
- Fiesta de las Cruces: Michelangelo-36, Public domain, source
- Fallas: Goodnighmoon, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Saint Joseph's Day: Guido Reni, Public domain, source
- Peineta: Hiart, CC0, source