“The last to fall were the buildings, distant and solemn,
the gravestones for an entire world.”
I have to admit to being slightly perplexed as to what, if
anything, I should post concerning the past week.
The contrast here between what is and what should have been is so stark
that it is difficult to give the situation a proper focus. From thinking about fleeing Valencia to avoid
the 1,000,000 Falles festival visitors to being virtually isolated in an empty
city all within the space of two weeks is unnerving at best. At worst, it is an existential crisis.
Early on, I wrote about wandering the neighborhood foraging
for food in the denuded commercial urban landscape. There is, of course, plenty of food, so much
so it could hardly be called a crisis at all.
No one I know is sick, so there is not even that to contemplate – and the
likelihood still so low statistically that normally it would be considered
somewhat aberrant to be thinking in those terms.
The machines are still working, as is the
incredible variety of ways and means to communicate (case in point: this blog). In fact, if the news was not filled with unhealthy reports, even a keen observer would
be hard-pressed to explain exactly what is wrong.
What follows is a day-by-day written and photographic
journal of (Not)Falles 2020.
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Model of the 2020 Falla for the City's main Plaza de Ayuntamiento. The theme was obviously meant to reflect the idea of tranquility in the midst of chaos.
The Falla waiting to be assembled. (Photo by others.)
The situation the day after Falles was cancelled. It is not clear who added the mask. It is also unclear as to the fate of this community Falla.
POSTSCRIPT
As of today, the head of the Falla remains as shown; the base in the background has been burned per tradition in a non-publicly-announced ceremony.
EL PAIS: Spanish language daily newspaper in Spain)
Valencia - 17 MAR 2020 - 01:32CET
(GOOGLE TRANSLATE)
In hiding, without an audience, without firecrackers, with the only tears of the fine rain that fell. This is how the central body of the municipal fault (falla) of Valencia burned last dawn in silence, with the Valencians confined to their homes and with no more public than a fire and police checkpoint. The spread of the coronavirus has forced the city to postpone its big party, which says goodbye to winter and gives way to spring. Given the impossibility of dismantling the lower part of the Fallas monument, already installed on the street after the outbreak of the crisis, burning it was the most plausible solution. So last night, in the midst of a light rain, without giving it publicity, the flames devoured part of a structure that had to rise 20 meters from the ground.
But the fire, which traditionally consumes around 700 faults (falles) every midnight on March 19, has not destroyed the entire City Hall monument, which this year had as its motto a premonitory Açò també passarà (This will also happen). The falla, a gigantic young woman meditating, the work of the urban artist Escif and of the artisans Manolo Martín and José Ramón Espuig, has lost, only the lower part of the flames, but retains the iconic bust, with her face covered by a mask, to be burned in July, the month the city has decided to postpone a party that moves hundreds of millions of euros in artisan workshops, fireworks, flowers, clothing and music bands.
(Photo from the article.)
On 23 March, the remaining head and shoulders were unceremoniously hauled away, reportedly to be re-assembled for a yet-to-be re-scheduled Falles 2020. (Two photos below from Levante News.)
THE TRADITIONAL COSTUMES OF FALLES:
...And, for a bit of humor, what some people think will need to happen to the costumes to be bearable in the heat of a Spanish July.
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The situation here in Valencia, Spain during the time of the coronavirus can at best be described as problematic. Having said that, things are probably not particularly worse than anywhere else in the country and/or in many other locations around the world.
As of yesterday, Saturday, 14 March 2020, the city was essentially on lockdown following regional proclamations. Saturday night the entire country was closed for 15 days.
When I say closed, I mean REALLY closed. Every shop, large and small, is closed. Every restaurant, every café, every bar – the very lifeblood of the Spanish city – is closed. Museums are closed. All entertainment venues, including cinemas, are closed. You can wed or be buried, and go to church (or similar) to pray “provided that there are no large crowds and that attendees maintain a distance of one meter from one another.”
Food stores are allowed to be open, but since they do not normally open on Sundays in any case it is unclear whether there will be restrictions as to numbers of people entering and/or limits on purchases. I can personally attest that on Friday, there was a run on all of the major grocery stories in the city.
Panaderias (bakeries) are open. Aside from pastries, bakeries here often also sell bocadillos (sandwiches), empanadas, and other pre-prepared food items that require flour and baking. At the same time, it is take-away only; normally the larger of these shops offer beverages and tables for a leisurely coffee break.
Public transit is running on special schedules. Entry to buses is only permitted through the middle doors in an attempt to offer more protection to the drivers.
What are the restrictions on movement?
- During the state of alarm, citizens and vehicles will only be allowed to travel on public roads and streets for the following activities:
- The purchase of foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and essential items.
- To attend health centers.
- To go to work or to provide employment services.
- To return to your usual residence.
- To assist and care for seniors, minors, dependants, the disabled, or people who are particularly vulnerable.
- In cases of force majeure or of necessity.
- Any other activity that is, by its nature, justified.
- Vehicles may take to the roads for any of the aforementioned activities, as well as to refuel at gas stations.
https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-03-15/spains-state-of-alarm-the-key-measures-that-are-now-in-place.html
All of this is in the wake of the postponement to a date uncertain of Falles, the five-day spring festival whose origin dates to the Middle Ages. Recently added to the United Nations list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, last year’s Falles attracted upwards of a million visitors to the city during the lead-up to and including the days of the festival itself. This, in itself, has been an enormous emotional blow to the city and is clearly going to have a dramatic negative economic effect.
Falles, 15 March 2019, 14:00
I walked the empty boulevards and streets this afternoon for an hour. My justification in case I was confronted by the police or the militia was that I was in search of food. Given my antipathy towards cooking, this is more or less the truth. I did not need to worry. I did not see more than a couple of dozen people total, none of whom were members of law enforcement. A number of the people I did see were bicycle delivery guys from restaurants offering call-in orders.
I saw two police cars, one in no rush to go anywhere and a second, circulating in the vicinity of our Ayuntamiento (City Hall), broadcasting on a loud speaker what I assumed from the few words I could understand – the audio quality was minimal at best - was an exhortation to stay off the streets.
Gran Via, Valencia's main thoroughfare, 15 March, 2020.
Plaza del Ayuntamineto, 15 March, 2020
It is something like what China did, but without the totalitarianism. I am wondering what will happen tomorrow as at least some people need to or decide to go to work as allowed. How are they going to regulate this? The central government has assumed all police powers for the country. Perhaps, a federal presence is going to descend on the city.
What about my food search? Off the main boulevard on one of the smaller feeder streets there is a new, trendy, fast-food, corner restaurant offering sushi and other Japanese cuisine across a (high-design) counter. I was surprised to find them open. They had roped off the small dining area and were offering take-away only. There was one other couple there waiting for their order. After they were served and departed and I waited for my food, I had a chance to talk at length to the young woman behind the cash register since no one else entered the place.
She turned out to be the owner, whose command of English happened to be somewhat better than my command of Spanish. She also happened to be wearing a face mask and gloves. I asked her whether the police had given her any problems or whether she had even seen any. The young entrepreneur said that that was why she was wearing the protective gear, in case they did stop and ask.
When I asked her how business was, she answered that despite her managing to stay open, it was still terrible, not even close to being break-even. She offered that she was asking the landlord to forgive her rent for at least the length a month, if not two. I finally asked her if she was having any trouble getting fresh fish. No, she replied, she had a large supply of frozen fish in the back. It was then I realized that I might be equally at risk of bad fish as I was of the coronavirus. Given the circumstances, I very much enjoyed munching on the not at all bad sushi as I walked back to my place.
Tonight, in a sign of solidarity, people on their balconies all around me applauding for the work of medical professionals in the crisis. Life continues.
16, March 2020
Today’s excursion was to the gourmet supermarket in the basement of the central branch of El Corte Ingles, the major department store in Spain and here in Valencia. There are multiple entrances to the store itself, but only one was open, the closest to the escalator entrance. There were guards and stanchions cordoning off everything else. No particular security protocol in the market.
The shelves were pretty much filled. On the other hand, the workers there literally outnumbered the shoppers and more than few were standing around talking to each other. I can't imagine that they can or will keep the place open if customer traffic does not increase dramatically. In any case, I put together la comida (the mid-day meal) for myself and enjoyed it back in my piso.
I took a long route walking home using the Gran Via. Not a police officer to be seen anywhere on the way, or the way back, until I finally saw one police car stopped at the traffic light at the corner closest to my building. As far as I could tell, they did not even give me a glance. A scattering of people on the streets, very few with face masks. Vehicular traffic was sparse, but not as other-worldly as yesterday. Everything else I could see was closed except, again, for the pastelerias and panaderias.
So it appears that the Spaniards – at least those in Valencia – are taking the controls very seriously. You have to read the following article from yesterday’s LOS ANGELES TIMES. I think it puts everything in perspective in terms of the States.
17 March, 2020
A normally busy pedestrian street.
CONSUM, the second-largest grocery chain in Valencia. Open for business, but a strict limit on the number of shoppers at one time. Eight people are waiting - at the proper "social distance."
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18, March 2020
Plaza de la Virgen: The heart of Valencia
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Calle de Caballeros, one of the city's busiest resident and tourist thoroughfares, leading to the Plaza del Tossal a central gathering place and entry to a below-ground museum, Galería del Tossal - Muralla Árabe, showcasing a small portion the city's 12th-century Arab ruins, including remains of the Islamic city walls.
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Abandoned construction.
Again, CONSUM on a sunnier day. Another photo from the day before shows a similar scene, but in the rain.
GRANIER, a chain of sit-down pastelerias is open for take-out only.
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ESTACION DEL NORTE. The (side of the) historic, main train station as seen at the end of one of the streets in the city's, now empty El Barrio Chino.
Inside the normally crowded station, a lone traveler.
Outside the station, another wonders what to do next.
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A NEIGHBORHOOD PHARMACY. A customer hesitates to enter the otherwise empty establishment, wondering I suppose if she should just walk in.
19, March 2020
I think it finally struck me today.
March 19 is a religious holiday in Valencia: St. Joseph’s day.
Saint Joseph's Day, 19 March, also called the Feast of Saint Joseph, is in Western Christianity the principal feast day of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and legal father of Jesus Christ. It has the rank of a solemnity in the Catholic Church. (WIKIPEDIA)
This origin is so buried in the now grand spectacle that is Falles and the great conflagration that marks the last day of the event that the non-religious normally do not pay any homage whatsoever to San Jose. He is also the patron saint of carpenters, nominally those responsible for the construction of the fallas.
This year, the net result of the holiday was that alongside all of the other closures, even the food markets closed on the day. A few fruit stands were open, but it was clear that even this (albeit, not overly fresh) produce barely attracted any buyers.
Now, the only human presence on the streets was the occasional empty bus, a few equally empty taxis, still no police, and (carrying his putative grocery bag) Benjamin Clavan. It was unbelievably eerie, unlike anything I had ever experienced in my life before, simultaneously both somewhat frightening and soundlessly fascinating. It was, for all intents and purposes, a glimpse of Armageddon.
Not the literary or movie version, but the actual end of the world as we know it. Having said that, it is also abundantly clear that this too will pass and as soon as now famous bell curve flattens out, things will slowly return to normal, or at least a new – equally acceptable – normal. For that one moment in time, however, I was treated to a unique vision.
That it happened here in Valencia, makes my time here all that more special.
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COPYRIGHT © 2020 BENJAMIN CLAVAN
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