The Nit de la Cremà (Night of the Cremà) is, undoubtedly, the highlight of the Fallas festival. It is the event that fills the streets of Valencia with millions of visitors from all over the world.

On the 19th of March, they are all eagerly waiting to see the burning of the fallas, the allegorical papier-mâché and wooden sculptures that make the festival so recognisable.

For a year, artists, committees, and the community at large invest their energy and time in the making of the fallas. This is the concluding event that elevates all their hard work to a symbolic level.

On Saint Joseph’s day, as the night falls on Valencia, the streets buzz with anticipation. The people know that soon all the colourful figures and sculptures that tower in the city’s squares will be burnt in huge bonfires.

In the crackling flames and showering fireworks, one year is laid to rest, while from the embers, another one is born. The Cremà is a homage to renewal and to spring itself. It is the final, cathartic act that concludes the crescendo of celebrations, music, and pyrotechnic shows. The burning of the fallas, bound to end up in ashes from the start, is an inevitable end and beginning, written into the very fabric of the festival.

The event is broadcast live on national tv and even internationally. So, if you’re lucky enough to be in Valencia during the final days of the Fallas festival, you must go and watch the burning of these stunning art pieces.

As the heat of the fire warms up the last of the winter air, the roaring flames will shine in the hundreds of eyes set on the scene, while up above, the smoke fills and darkens the sky.