La Batalla de Flores from Valencia Blog on Vimeo.

LET THE BATTLE RAGE!!!

Battle of Flowers-22

Marking the end of Valencia’s Feria de Julio is the famous flower battle (la batalla de flores), established in 1892. Basically, falleras ride on parade floats, equip themselves with tennis rackets, and allow onlookers to pelt them with heavy little flowers. It’s great fun, and if you’d become sick of seeing the Fallera Mayor’s pretty, blond face everywhere… well, this was your chance to smack it with a flower. (Though, it must be said, while most her court was quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught, the Fallera Mayor never lost her composure, swatting away every flower with ice cold precision … perhaps it was this skill that won her the coveted position in the first place)

Battle of Flowers-33

The battle was proceeded by a small parade on La Alameda, which went up and down the street 4 times before the warfare began. The girls on the floats all looked a little nervous regarding the warfare to come, and the public was impatient.

Battle of Flowers-24

Battle of Flowers-20

Battle of Flowers-21

Battle of Flowers-25

Battle of Flowers-29

Battle of Flowers-32

Battle of Flowers-35

After the battle had finished, spectators ran into the street to gather up armfuls of flowers to throw at each other. Some of the more eager didn’t notice (or care) that they were picking up horse manure with the flowers.

Battle of Flowers-36

Battle of Flowers-38

Battle of Flowers-40

Battle of Flowers-41

Battle of Flowers-37

Battle of Flowers-42

The night ended with fireworks over the Turia.


"La Batalla de Flores" was published on July 29th,2008 and is listed in Bizarre, Events, Festivals.

Follow comments via the RSS Feed | Leave a comment | Trackback URL

Comments on "La Batalla de Flores": 2 Comments

  1. Pappy Powell wrote,

    The weapon of choice you mentioned, heavy little flower,is a mum. Duh. Is that you holding one? Kind of looks like your skinny, hairy ankles.

  2. La Batalla de Flores: Brad Neese: Living Large in Oklahoma wrote,

    [...] to Valencia Blog… Marking the end of Valencia’s Feria de Julio is the famous flower battle (la batalla de [...]

Leave Your Comment

Hola Valencia Blog is powered by WordPress

eXTReMe Tracker

Wearing the Over It Light Skin for Shifter by Buzzdroid