Valencia's Festivals and Feast Days

The first thing you will notice about the calendar year in the Valencia area is the amount of days highlighted as holidays. The Spanish and the Valencian people need little excuse to have a party. As many as 12 separate festivals are celebrated in any giving year in Valencia not including the obvious ones like Christmas, New Years and Halloween.

Here is a list of the most popular and many times the most outrageous:

January 17th – Saint Anthony Abbot

This one is a curious mix of farmers and clergy. Country folk bring their animals to the centre of Valencia so that Saint Anthony the Abbot can bless them. Calle Sagunto or Sagunto Street is closed off to traffic and a lively scene occurs with lots of merriment and beastly behaviour.

January 22nd – Saint Vincent the Martyr

This particular Saint Vincent is one of two Vincents that are dear to the Valencian people. He was the suffering saint. He also happens to be the patron saint of the Valencia city. He was a Christian martyr from the 300s AD. He can be considered the unlucky of the two Saint Vincents as he was promoting the Christian ideals about a decade before they became fashionable, a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was tortured by the then pagan Romans. The same Romans who less than ten years later were themselves converts to the Christian faith. His martyrdom is commemorated with a procession through the streets of Valencia, which leaves from St. Stephen's church. During the procession people leave a trail of laurel leaves and flower petals.

February – The Carnival

February plays host to Carnival, as is the tradition in many countries. Valencia has quiet a subdued attitude to the Carnival, although the people of the town of Vinaros do make that special effort to celebrate in style. The main reason the carnival is considered less important is because it will always be second best to the biggest of Valencia's parties, the Fallas.

March 14th to 19th – Fallas

The Fallas (pronounced "Figh as in High, Ass") is Valencia's biggest and best street party. From the first day of March every year Valencia becomes overwhelmed by a fiery fever. The party that ensues is unlike any other. The festivities are a culmination of a yearlong toil carried out by groups called "Falleros". A Falla is best described as a huge papier maché sculptured statue made with great care and attention but made to last a very short time. The destiny of all but one of the Fallas is a spectacularly scorching end. Click on this Fallas link to learn more about a very special kind of festival.

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