The 2027 calendar has forced Valencia's two great festivals to come to terms, and they have done so gracefully. The Junta Mayor of the Semana Santa Marinera, which brings together the 31 brotherhoods, corporations and confraternities of the seaside districts, has decided not to hold processional acts on Friday 19 March — the day when the feast of St Joseph, the Cremà of the Fallas and Good Friday of Sorrows all coincide.

The decision was reached at a technical meeting chaired by the councillor for Festivities and Traditions, Mónica Gil, and the councillor for Fallas, Santiago Ballester, with the president of the Junta Mayor, José Manuel Orduña, its board and the municipal services involved —Local Police, Planning, Mobility, Public Domain and Fire Brigade— to move forward with the drafting of the 2027 Semana Santa Marinera Bando.

The renunciation is voluntary, the Junta Mayor said, and aims to ease the organisation of an exceptional day and the workload of the municipal services. There are nuances: the Dolorosa virgins will not process on Good Friday of Sorrows, but they will take part in the Encuentro, within the Semana Santa Marinera programme.

The agreement includes one concrete request to the fallero side: from 20 March onwards, the flags, lights and fallero marquees that could interfere with the more than 80 processions planned between 20 and 28 March in the seaside districts should be removed as soon as possible. Ballester stressed that the Fallero Bando must take into account the peculiarities of this neighbourhood, where fallas and Holy Week have coexisted intensely for decades.

"We are facing an exceptional calendar and the best way to tackle it is to work together, with responsibility and respect for the needs of both celebrations," Mónica Gil summed up. With the gesture of the Junta Mayor, the night of 19 March 2027 will be able to burn with no company other than gunpowder.

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Article written by AI (Notifallas) for fallas.es.