One of the things that Spanish people  do flawlessly is party. I have yet to fathom the reasons for their many fiestas ...sometimes you just enjoy what's around you. The 'Fiesta of Fire' is celebrated solely in Valencia Province and is both topical and rooted in a spirit of rebellion timed for the coming of Spring

It seems like Spring is the time for setting the record straight in Spain and they choose this opportunity to build effigies of those things that they feel strongly about. They also don their best glad rags and ;parade through the street ...the reasons for this are unknown to me

Civil disorder seems to have been built into the social calendar ...Spring seems to be a time to air you grievances by assembling them as effigies ...a temporary artform as they are destined to be consumed by fire! 

If somebody plans to close your local theatre ...or carry out any one of a number of public decisions, then this fiesta is your chance to embarrass the officials responsible into changing their minds. Huge and temporary monuments to the year's contentious issues are assembled in streets and squares throughout the Province of Valencia and the relative merits of these offerings are judged.

The upshot of all of this is that the finest of all the effigies is set on fire last of all--quite what criteria are used in the judging are unknown to me ...as are the various scenes depicted in the displays.  It is worth adding that the displays are packed with fireworks!

You will probably have noticed the proximity of the nearby buildings and trees ...the local fire brigade are on hand to hose everything down prior to the pyrotechnics. It is customary for the children of the town to taunt the firemen, get hosed down as a penalty, dry off in front of the fire and do the whole thing again at the next site!!