Sagunto begins the countdown to Fallas with hair-combs and fabrics for its Falleras Mayores
The Federació Junta Fallera de Sagunt (the local Fallas association) has unveiled the official hair-combs and fabrics for its Falleras Mayores, Empar Ríos and Maria Pozuelo, marking the start of the countdown to September's Exaltaciones ceremony at the Roman Theatre.
Sagunto's Fallas federation has kicked off the countdown to the September Exaltaciones (the ceremonies naming the festival's top representatives) at the Roman Theatre. On 23 July, at the Mario Monreal Cultural Centre, the Falleras Mayores (the festival's senior representatives), Empar Ríos and Maria Pozuelo, received their official peinetas, ornate hair combs, while their courts of honour unveiled the fabrics for their official dresses for the first time.
The combs were made by Daniel Bada Joier Artesà, a workshop specialising since 1977 in 18th- and 19th-century-inspired designs, while the fabrics came from Vives y Marí, a firm with more than seventy years' history in Valencian silk; the chosen design, called Palància, blends traditional espolín weaving with modern manufacturing. Outfits for the child Fallera Mayor will be made by Segles Indumentària Valenciana, and those for the Fallera Mayor by 1700 Indumentària Valenciana.
The two courts of honour will wear three colours, Berry, Maravedí and Jade, and each Fallera Mayor gave her court a personalised keepsake as a memento. The festival operates on a large district-wide scale: the federation brings together thirty local committees from Sagunto, Puerto de Sagunto, Gilet and Faura, with around 6,000 people actively taking part, and Fallas was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2016. Mayor Darío Moreno praised the joint work between the federation and the City Council.
The event also serves to warm things up ahead of September, when the Roman Theatre will host the Exaltaciones ceremonies that officially crown the Falleras Mayores in front of the rest of the local committees. The federation also uses the unveiling of combs and fabrics to showcase the work of local workshops and artisans who, like Daniel Bada or Vives y Marí, keep traditional trades tied to the festival alive, often working for months ahead of each edition.
For the business community in Sagunto and Puerto de Sagunto, the Fallas industry — from costumes to fireworks — also represents an economic activity that runs for much of the year, well beyond the festival's central days.
The September Exaltaciones ceremonies also tend to draw audiences from other Camp de Morvedre municipalities, who join residents from the local Fallas committees to watch the new Falleras Mayores make their official debut in person.
According to El Periódico de Aquí, with data from the Federació Junta Fallera de Sagunt.