Valencia, Feb 26 (EFE) for all the people who suffer the war.
In front of more than 20,000 people who crowded around the Torres de Serranos, according to estimates by public television À Punt, the falleras have received the keys to the city from the mayor, Joan Ribó, and have invited everyone to participate in the Fallas of 2023, a festival that will culminate on March 19.
CALL TO PEACE IN LA CRIDA
“We meet in these historic towers to announce that we are already in Fallas”, highlighted Mengó, who has asked that the Fallas values make these festivities “a model of inclusion, solidarity, tolerance, plurality and brotherhood”.
“A brotherhood that is our banner, and that we want to expand to every part of the world where there is a conflict and thus permeate every corner with peace. May today also be a call to hope for all the good people who suffer from war. May our voices rise as one to convey our encouragement to them”, he pointed out.
For her part, the older child fallera, Paula Nieto, has assured that “to the moon of Valencia, these noble doors of Serranos were testimony to the coming and going of people, and today they are the perfect setting to invite the whole world of children to celebrate the best festival in the world: Las Fallas”.
Nieto has shown herself to be sure that all those who come to enjoy this party will fall in love with her and will make “a little of the Fallas travel to thousands of countries”, and has claimed that girls and boys are “future but also present ”.
PYROMUSICAL SHOW
The wait prior to the Crida has been enlivened by the company La Fam Teatre, which has offered a show of music and light effects, which has turned the Torres de Serranos into a big screen.
A countdown has given way to a 360-degree pyromusical show, which has been shot from behind the Torres de Serranos and from the river, and at the same time videos have been projected on the towers themselves with images of the Fallas from other years.
The person in charge of the show has been Pirotecnia Valenciana, which has launched 90 kilos of pyrotechnic material -double the kilos of previous editions- to the rhythm of an epic song, and which has closed with a confetti launch.
WAKE UP AND MASCLETÁ
The first fallera day of 2023 started at 6:30 a.m. with the visit of the major falleras of Valencia and their Courts of Honor to the Church of San Juan del Hospital to visit the Chapel of Santa Bárbara, patron saint of fireworks.
Subsequently, a “macrodespertà” was held through the streets of La Paz and San Vicente until reaching the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, where more than 1,600 girls and boys and 2,350 adults had accredited.
At 12 o’clock the XIX Music Bands Entrance has started, an act that has been carried out since 2004 at the initiative of the Delegation of Culture of the Junta Central Fallera and that was only suspended in 2006 due to inclement weather.
The tour began in Plaza de la Virgen, and continued along Calle del Micalet, Plaza de la Reina, the streets of San Vicente and la Sangre, and the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, where, after going past the Post Office and Telephone, finished in front of the main façade of the Town Hall.
At 2:00 p.m., the first mascletà of Las Fallas 2023 was fired in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, which was carried out by Pirotecnia Valenciana, and which was witnessed by a crowded square.
The Red Cross has treated a total of 19 people at the entrance of bands and the mascletà, most of them due to fainting spells (nine) and anxiety crises (four).