Fallas are the most important festivals in Valencia . It is true that they arouse passions, but it is also true that a sector of the population detests them. Why do they arouse such contrary reactions? Are there psychological factors involved?

Why do failures polarize society?

Let’s start with the fact that in Valencia there are “falleros” (those who belong to a “falla”, generally from their neighborhood) and not “falleros”, although you can experience these festivities from both groups. In general, the falleros tend to have more devotion to these festivities. In this case, the feeling of belonging to the group plays a very important role .

They tend to be people who belong to that group since childhood, who spend many moments of celebration with them, so it is completely logical on a psychological level to relate going to the “fault” or the “casal” (place where they meet) with moments of happiness.

Moreover, the fact of representing a group, a sector or a neighborhood generates pride and fosters this feeling of belonging to the group we are talking about, and makes the social need be satisfied .

On the other hand, they are parties that stand out for their noise, music, being in the street… that is, with elements of joy and celebration . However, as we were saying, there are people who do not like them and even hate them. This can be due to many reasons: because they do not feel integrated in some group, because they do not belong to some fault or because the friends they have do and for some of these reasons they feel lonely and alone, etc.

People who don’t like noise are also often against these parties. In this sense, another important factor is the phobia of firecrackers (in general to the strong and sudden noises), known as ligirofobia, in the treatment of which we are specialists in Mariva Psychologists and that also affects the children of the house.

Closing cycles

Something that also calls attention, especially to people who do not know these festivities in depth, is the burning of the monuments . However, this is something that makes these holidays more special, and the psychological factor involved is that of ending one cycle and starting another.

In fact, if we think about it, is something that we see in various rituals proper to human beings (such as on New Year’s Day or other cultural festivities) and that serves them to try to end one stage and begin another, to which is added the factor of fire, which since many years ago, has been understood as a way to purify, to burn what we consider negative and start from scratch.