Pego Carnival

The people of Valencia region are internationally known for their passion for explosives, loud noises and parties which wouldn't be parties unless things were getting incinerated. The biggest of these is Las Fallas which is in March, but in February some towns also have a carnival, held on or around the day known in some countries as Mardi Gras and in England as pancake day. We participated in one in Pego, which is generally a small, quiet town. Not on carnival day though….

The carnival began around midnight, with a parade of floats, blaring different kinds of pop music, which competed with the booming drums of the various samba bands, who tirelessly kept the beat of the parade. 

Not knowing what to expect, we had turned up in brightly coloured clothes to celebrate the carnival. However we clearly stood out as everyone else was wearing black - most people in smart suits with snazzy hats, many men in drag, and the majority wearing some kind of make-up to make them look like dead people or ghosts.  

We think the reason for the sombre costumes is because the carnival was to celebrate the end of festivities and the beginning of lent, and so everyone was in mourning for this. The name of the carnival is "the burying of the sardine" - the sardine representing the festivities. The floats were all decorated with sardines and there were a few sardine coffins on the parade too.

So far, so good - but where were the explosives? Well, a lot of people in the crowd had giant sparking flares which were lit regularly and waved over everyone's heads or feet. However, we were to realise that these were merely decorations; there was more to come. 

The parade ended in a main square in the centre of town; where a bonfire was lit on the ground (which had been previously covered with sand). The carnivalers then proceeded with the symbolic ritual of the carnival: they buried the sardines, by throwing them onto the bonfire. Most of the sardines were made with tin foil and so they burned in quite a spectacular way. 

It seemed to be irresistible to some to jump over the fire as the sardines were being buried in it.  Or generally have their moment of glory in the flames.

After this began another parade - smaller but stranger. Some fireworks which were attached to a wire strung across the street were set off - spinning and wheeling over our heads. Then we were led, along with about half the people from the previous parade, down a side street strung with more fireworks. Who was leading us? Well, the firework people, of course -   dressed in flameproof suits and with the heads of grotesque and terrible demons. 

These firework people were scattered throughout the crowd and every few seconds they would attach a firework to the big sticks which they wielded, and wave in over everyone's heads. This was the cue for everyone to duck down and start a crouching dance, while shouting what sounded like "corre - foc! corre - foc!"There were so many firework people, and so evenly dispersed, that it was impossible to just walk along watching this spectacle. If you tried to get away from one firework which was revolving over your head, another would loom up next to you, or behind you, and there was nothing to do but get down.

The firework walk twisted and turned down what seemed like a maze of side streets - but this could have been simply because the smoke was so thick that we could barely see where we were. Finally we ended up back in the main square - still with different floats blaring different music, and the blazing bonfire, full of sardines. This was an oasis of tranquility compared to the intensity of the firework walk. 

Clearly, not everyone from the carnival had joined us on our journey with the firework people as even some Valencians have a limit to how much explosives they can handle. However, everyone got to experience the final firework display - which somehow managed to be even louder than the soundsystems, the samba drums and the constant fizz and crackle of the fireworks wielded by the firework people. 

A truly amazing experience - and one which has helped to prepare us in some ways for what will certainly be the full-blown firework madness of Las Fallas. We know that we will definitely need earplugs…