From the first despertá early on the morning of the last Sunday in February to the middle of the night on March 19th, the spectacle that is Las Fallas is performed across the wide stage of Valencia, to an appreciative audience of millions. It calls for a cast of thousands: people of all ages dressed in brocade and lace or peasant smocks and rope sandals; musicians in jeans or smart band uniforms, playing drums, cymbals, and traditional Valencian folk instruments, marching block after block.

The cast isn’t limited to people. Some might call these props, but they really act more like characters: the fireworks, both for sound and sight, play their parts on cue. The millions of flowers carried as offerings to the Plaza de la Virgen, both bouquets and palanquins buried in blossoms, seem to know their roles. The figures that form the hundreds of fallas throughout the city…