Valencia, Spain  - Of the many spring fiestas in Spain, the loudest, most colourful and fiery is Valencia's Las Fallas ("The Fires"), which captivates the Mediterranean city for five days every March.

The locals parade proudly through the streets in splendid costumes. Outsiders flock to the city to see the paella contests, folk dances, processions, fireworks displays and "fallas" - gigantic papier-maché sculptures. Last year, 1.2 million tourists jammed Valencia during the festivities.

Beatriz Gomez-Lechon Verdia has eagerly awaited Las Fallas all year. Her Fallas committee chose her to be the Fallera Mayor, the woman serving as its top festival representative. Every district and large neighbourhood in Valencia has such a committee, which sets up a festival tent at an intersection, has a falla built at its own expense, and names a Fallera Mayor.

Beatriz proudly gives the signal to ignite the mascleta, a type of fireworks consisting of hundreds of firecrackers, connected by a fuse, that are hung on a line. The mascleta explodes in a series of bangs, whistles and flashes, filling the air with smoke and the smell of gunpowder much to the delight of Beatriz.

While the smaller Fallas committees usually set off their mascleta on the fiesta's first days as a kind of starting signal, a gigantic mascleta for the general public is lit every day at 2 pm in front of Valencia's city hall.

Having begun Las Fallas with a bang, Beatriz and her fellow Fallas committee members make final preparations for the religious part of the festival. They check to make sure their coiffures and costumes are sitting properly, and then the procession starts. Other Fallas committees merge with them from side streets, swelling the procession to some 150,000 participants.

Spectators lining the streets cheer the Falleras, who are carrying bouquets of flowers to be offered to an image of the holy Virgin de los Desamparados (Our Lady of the Forsaken) - the city's patron saint - which stands in a plaza outside the basilica named after her.

Each Fallas committee holds its own street celebration in the evening, when they eat, drink and dance for hours. An irresistible aroma wafts through Beatriz's street, the Calle Cirilo Amoros, redolent of rabbit, beans, rice and tomatoes - the ingredients of paella.

Neighbours bearing pans of deliciously smelling paella later gather in the Fallas committee's festival tent for the traditional paella contest. The judges assess how well each dish has been cooked, its colour, taste and "socarrat" - the crispy, toasted rice at the bottom of a pan - which paella lovers consider the gastronomic high point.

Everything, sadly, must come to an end, including Las Fallas. For the last time, the daily fireworks display at midnight, produced by the best pyrotechnicians in the world and visible kilometres away, lights the sky with bursts of colour for nearly half an hour.

But before Valencians begin the long wait for the next edition of their rollicking spring fiesta, they whoop it up on the last day, St Joseph's Day, on March 19. That night is the Crema (Conflagration), during which almost all of the 400 fallas go up in flames in the middle of intersections and city plazas.

The fallas are topped by "ninots," figures depicting, often satirically, politicians, actors and other well-known personalities. Made of papier-maché and polyester resin, the ninots are sometimes several stories tall.

With ninots ablaze on every corner, all of Valencia seems to be on fire. The largest one is set alight at midnight on the plaza in front of city hall. Throngs of people watch as the flames leap skyward.

Each year, a jury spares one ninot from destruction by fire, letting it join the other prize-winning papier-maché figures on permanent display in the Museo Fallero (Fallas Museum).

Beatriz's Fallas committee has never received this honour, but she is not bothered. In the eyes of the proud Fallera Mayor, her committee's falla is the fairest of all. As the flames engulf it and the giant figures of wood and papier-maché crumple, she can no longer keep from crying. Las Fallas has now come to an end, and with it her reign as Fallera Mayor.

"It was so beautiful. A dream of mine has come true," Beatriz says, and wipes the tears from her eyes.

Internet: www. spain. info, www. turisvalencia. es. (dpa)