Mascletà

A mascletà is a daytime firework display made up of powerful firecrackers, the masclets, and other devices that go off one after another in an ever-building rhythm. It is about sound and vibration rather than light, and it is the midday ritual at the Fallas in Valencia and the Hogueras in Alicante.

Mascletà or mascletá

The word is Valencian. Mascletà is the colloquial form of mascletada, which the Diccionari normatiu valencià defines as a rapid, very loud sequence of “traques, masclets, carcasses i altres elements pirotècnics organitzada rítmicament en ascens” (strings of crackers, masclets, shells and other pyrotechnic elements, organised rhythmically in a rising order). In Spanish it is often spelt “mascletá”, with an acute accent, and that is the form most people search for; both mean the same thing. The name comes from the masclet, the gunpowder-filled paper casing that makes the bang.

How it is fired

Visit València sums it up as a mixture of “sound, the smell of gunpowder, colour and the contagious excitement of the atmosphere”. It is all about rhythm: the bangs build and build up to the terratrèmol, the final “earthquake”, when the whole square shakes. It lasts between 5 and 7 minutes. Each fireworks firm has its own style, which is why no two are alike: some stick to the classic mascletà, others go for a louder finale.

The mascletà at the Fallas of Valencia

The benchmark is Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Valencia, where a mascletà is fired every day from 1 to 19 March at two in the afternoon. It is so popular that Visit València suggests experiencing it from a balcony on the square, above the crowd. The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua defines it as typical of many Valencian fiestas: from the Fallas to the Hogueras, and the fiestas of many towns in between.

The mascletà at the Hogueras of Alicante

In Alicante there is gunpowder throughout the fiesta, starting with the morning despertà (a firecracker wake-up call), but the big event is the mascletà competition in Plaza de los Luceros. According to the decree that declared the fiesta a Bien de Interés Cultural, it has been held since 1988, between 19 and 24 June, at two in the afternoon: the square fills with people who come to hear and feel the display, and the City Council then rewards the best pyrotechnics firms. To give you an idea, at the 2026 competition one of the displays fired 150 kilos of regulated material and its final earthquake reached 128 decibels.

Besides the official one, many committees fire their own mascletà in their district as part of their programme.

It is not the same as a fireworks display

A mascletà happens by day, at lunchtime. That is the difference from a fireworks display, which is at night and is something you watch: a mascletà is something you hear and feel in your body. That is why people take it in standing in the street, as close as the barriers allow.

Where the food comes in

At the Hogueras, the two o’clock mascletà falls right at lunchtime. If your committee wants to sit down to eat as soon as you get back from Luceros, the kitchen has to have everything ready before the display. At Xepep we organise meals according to the programme of each Hogueras committee and also for local and patron saint fiestas.

Related terms

The mascletà fills the days leading up to the cremà, the final act of the fiesta. The monument is called a foguera in Alicante, and the barraquers eat together in the barraca. In Valencia, each Fallas committee has its casal faller.

For more vocabulary from the table and the fiesta, explore Traca.