If You Must Wait, Wait In Prayer
Valencia’s Las Fallas is an annual nineteen day festival of astounding creativity and deep piety accompanied by near constant, frequently deafening fireworks. It is a celebration of the permanence of faith and culture against the impermanence of profane, other-worldly and comedic creativity.
Eight hundred colorful sculptures of brilliant creativity, some as high as four stories tall occupy four hundred intersections throughout Valencia. Each day at 2 pm thousands of people cram wall to wall into the main square for La Mascleta’, a deafening fireworks display. Ear protection is imperative. Smaller neighborhood Mascleta’s happen randomly throughout the day and night as does a constant barrage of firecrackers set off by bands of youth. At the end of the nineteen days all of the eight hundred sculptures are burned to the ground.
During the final three days of Las Fallas, amidst the noise and chaos, tens of thousands of men, women and children in elegant traditional dress march silently in pious neighborhood groups carrying bouquets of flowers to decorate an enormous wooden statue of the Virgen de los Desamparados, the patron saint of Valencia. For many, this is an overwhelming emotional act.
On the final Sunday afternoon while wandering various neighborhoods photographing the sculptures, I came upon this mother and her daughters at the entry to their home upon their return from church waiting patiently and in prayer. Their dresses of exquisite, colorful silk brocade are overlaid with a gorgeous handwoven lace apron while draped around their heads and shoulders are Mantillas of even finer handmade lace.
Sony A7RIII 24-105 f4 G Master lens ISO 125 f8 @ 1/250th
I love this one