La Cordà
The Valencian town of Paterna celebrates La Cordà, its annual evening of gunpowder antics. Head to the Calle Mayor (Main Street) to see thousands of rockets, firecrackers and mortars fill the night with eardrum-shattering noise and flashes of light.
Not for the faint-hearted, fireworks are placed on the streets and hang from the balconies tied to exceptionally long strings (cordàs). In total 70 tiradores (rocket launchers) from local neighbourhood groups, dressed head-to-toe in ill-fitting suits with helmets of all shapes and sizes, run the gauntlet to and fro setting off anything powerful and explosive that adds to this particularly loud and colourful rocket symphony. Some 2500 rockets are let off each minute.
Once the noise dies down, the highly acclaimed rocket expert of the town, awarded the title Coeter Major, sounds his bugle to mark the lighting of the last of the rockets. Everyone then converges on their neighbourhood to stage cordàs of their own, continuing until dawn.
La Cordà is the culmination of Paterna's 12-day Fiesta Mayor in honour of patron saint San Vicente Ferrer, el Santísimo Cristo de la Fe y San Roque.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Paterna Tourist Office |
| Phone: | +34 96 305 31 24 |
| Venue Information: | Calle Mayor |
| Full Name: | |
| Directions: | In the centre of Paterna. |
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Paterna Tourist Office |
| Phone: | +34 96 305 31 24 |
| Name: | Valencia Provincial Tourist Office |
| Location: | Comunidad Valenciana |
| Address: | Patronato Provincial de Valencia, Plaza de Manises, 2, Puerta 7, 46003 Valencia |
| Phone: | +34 96 351 49 07 |
| Fax: | +34 96 391 78 72 |
| Name: | Spanish National Tourist Office |
| Location: | Spain |
| Address: | José Lazaro Galdiano, 6, Madrid 28036 |
| Fax: | +34 913 43 35 00 |
| Name: | Spanish National Tourist Office (Turespaña) |
| Location: | Spain |
| Address: | Jose Lázaro Galdiano, 6, 28071 Madrid, Spain |
| Email: | infosmile@tourspain.es |
| Phone: | +34 913 43 35 00 |
| Name: | Spanish Tourist Board (London) |
| Location: | Spain |
| Address: | PO Box 4009, London, W1A 6NB |
| Email: | info.londres@tourspain.es |
| Phone: | +44 (0) 20 7486 8077 |
| Fax: | +44 (0) 20 7486 8034 |
