Newspaper/Magazine Articles (3)

Coplans, Chris. “Fired up in Valencia.” Sunday Express 9 Mar. 2008.

This article by Coplans gives a great explanation of one of Spain’s most famous fiestas, Las Fallas in Valencia. He captures some of the feelings that are very specific to foreigners by addressing issues of safety and crowd control. Perhaps one of the most astounding aspects of Las Fallas, particularly to an American, is the fact that spectators stand only a matter of yards away from the 9-story tall flaming sculpture. This is an emotion that Coplans expresses in his newspaper article. I think this article is extremely beneficial to a journalist researching the topic of the Spanish fiesta because not all sources will explain some of the oddities of the festival quite like Coplans does. He uses words such as "pyromaniac," "bonfire," and "Dante's Inferno." These interesting and slightly comical words help to create this article that would help any journalist researching this topic.

Farnham, Alan. “Got a Match.” Forbes 10 Mar. 2008: 102-104.

This article highlights the annual Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain. It discusses components of the festival, including the loud fireworks, bullfighting, marching bands, and religious ceremonies. The article discusses the height of the festival which includes the burning of more than 700 oversized, flammable statues. The statues, called “fallas” in Spain, can be more than nine stories tall, and they mostly depict persons who have fallen out of public favor. They often exhibit artistic satire in the construction and in decoration. Some of the people who have been featured as satirical structures include performer Michael Jackson, Pope Benedict XVI, and the current mayor of the city of Valencia, Rita Barberá Nolla. This article would be helpful for a journalist because it does a good job describing the statues that are burned during the festival, which happens to be the most important component of the entire week-long celebration. A good understanding of the “fallas” would allow a journalist to comprehend the festival on a level at which natives of Spain do. This is helpful if the journalist is trying to present this aspect of the culture to one other than the Spanish culture.

Harvey, David. “Must-Visit Spanish Festivals.” National Geographic Traveler Sept.-Dec. 2002.

This article contains a large list of descriptions about various Spanish fiestas around the country. The author, David Harvey, is a photographer for National Geographic, and complied information he gathered during his tour around Spain, as well as photograph s from each fiesta. These photographs are extremely important to a journalist researching this topic because they allow the researcher to understand a visual part of the culture that would be impossible to understand without pictures or without actually attending the event. Not only does the site feature a list of more than 20 festivals with a small description and links, it also includes phone numbers to contacts for each festival who can give the researcher more specific information. This compilation of phone numbers would be extremely helpful to an individual interested in this topic.