Oliva makes Falla history
GENDER equality has taken a new twist in the region's most 'feminist fiestas' – for the first time in history, a Falla 'king' has been appointed as head of his local club.
The massive March festival celebrated throughout the province of Valencia and also in Denia, Pego and Pamís near Ondara involves a series of crucial roles attached to each of the giant, colourful papier mâché monuments – all of which are held by girls and women.
Every falla – with a lowercase 'f' when referring to the statues – has a commission whose members, in traditional Valencian costume, spend every waking hour in the tied marquee or casal.
And every commission has a ‘fallera del casal’, in charge of catering for the whole week; a fallera del foc, who sets fire to the monument on March 19, and a fallera mayor, or 'Falla queen'.
This huge honour can only be held once in a lifetime.
Along with the Ofrenda, or flower-offering to the Virgin Mary – where falleras dedicate their bouquets to the women in their lives – this makes the Fallas probably the most female-dominated of any fiesta on the annual calendar.
But for the first time in more than 120 years of the festival, an Oliva commission has appointed a ‘fallero mayor’, or a man for the centre-stage part.
Baptism by Falla
Javier Tur Peiró, aged 26, is Falla king for the Casa d'Alonso falla in La Safor's southernmost town – close to the pensioners' club and the pharmacy at the bottom of Calle Barranc – after a surprise announcement at the monthly fiesta group lunch.
He had put his name down as commission chairman and, although he had dreamed of being fallero mayor instead, this figure did not exist.
“We needed to open our eyes and see that a boy ought to be able to have as much fun at the Fallas as his female friends who've been fallera mayor,” Javier said.
Now 'very excited' about the March 2023 fiestas, Javier says he has 'seen his dream come true', and one that 'just a few years ago' he 'could never have imagined happening'.
Javier has been a member of the falla Casa d'Alonso since the day he was born and, aged one, in 1997, was the commission's 'fiesta mascot', decked out in traditional costume in miniature.
Aged 12, he was chairman of the children's falla monument commission and, at 22, accompanied his good friend Mireia Ibiza when she was the flame-wielding fallera del foc. Curiously, despite fallera top jobs being for girls, the commission chair role was only open to boys or men until a few years back when La Safor started allowing females to stand for leadership.