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Spanish town celebrates crazy festival with flour and egg battle

The eastern Spanish town of Ibi held its annual Enfarinats festival on Saturday, a colourful and messy fiesta which sees revellers launch eggs, flour and firecrackers at each other in a mock coup d’etat.

Published: 29 December 2015 16:44 CET
Spanish town celebrates crazy festival with flour and egg battle
Photo: Jaime Reina / AFP

The 200-year-old festival takes place every December 28th and coincides with El Día de los Inocentes – Innocents' Day –  which is Spain's version of April Fool’s.

Under the slogan of 'New Justice', a group of married men take siege of the Valencian town and impose a series of ridiculous laws on residents.

Those who don't abide by the new laws set by the Enfarinats, the 'Flour Police', are given unofficial fines.

A battle of eggs, flour and firecrackers is then waged between the Enfarinats and La Oposició, another 'army' which tries to restore order in Ibi.

At the end of the day, all the money collected from the 'fines' is donated to charitable causes in the town.

Gallery: check out the best photos from this year's Enfarinats festival


Photo: Jaime Reina / AFP

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FESTIVALS

In Pictures: Spain’s Fallas festival returns after pandemic pause

Valencia's Fallas festival wrapped up with fireworks and the burning of colourful sculptures on Sunday after returning to the eastern Spanish city following a pandemic-induced hiatus.

Published: 6 September 2021 09:14 CEST
In Pictures: Spain's Fallas festival returns after pandemic pause
Ninots (cardboard effigies) burn as one installation of the Fallas Festival is set alight in Valencia on September 5, 2021. Photos: José Jordan/AFP

The five-day festival is traditionally held in March but was cancelled last year as the Covid-19 pandemic swept Spain. This year, officials postponed the start of the UNESCO-recognised event until September 1st.

It was the first time that the festival was suspended since the end of Spain’s 1936-39 Civil War.

Each year, residents make hundreds of colourful puppet-like sculptures — some as big as a four-storey building — out of wood, plaster and papier-mache for the festival.

Called “ninots”, the sculptures depict fairytale characters and cartoonish effigies of politicians and celebrities.

One ensemble from this year’s event was inspired by the hit Spanish Netflix series “Money Heist”. It depicted several people wearing red overalls and Salvador Dali face masks like the main characters in the show.

The ninots are displayed in the streets of the Mediterranean city and then burned on the last day of the festival — in a bonfire called the “Cremà” — in a centuries-old tradition honouring St Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters.

Fireworks lit up the night sky as this year’s bonfire, which features about 750 sculptures, was held without the thousands of spectators that the event usually draws.

The bonfire was brought forward by two hours to allow festivities to end before a nightly virus curfew came into effect at 1:00 am (2300 GMT).

After much debate a customary flower offering to the Virgin Mary was allowed to proceed — but without people lining the route, as is tradition.

“These are not Fallas as such, more like Fallas-related events that comply with health regulations,” said Valencia mayor Joan Ribo.

The Fallas festival is believed to have originated from pagan rituals marking the end of winter.

The pandemic has forced the cancellation of many of Spain’s most famous fiestas, including Pamplona’s bull-running festival and Seville’s Holy Week processions.

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