good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of saturday the 19th of march today we have a break from lent because this is the feast day of st joseph of nazareth to all intents and purposes jesus's earthly father and we can say that with confidence because of course mary uh at the finding of jesus in the temple at the age of 12 says to jesus why have you treated us my son your father and i have sought you sorrowing so we give thanks for st joseph's care of the holy family on this day bring your own prayers and concerns as we keep this feast the uh the color of sin joseph is is white and so we plentiful white in our flowers in the amaryllis and in the pious and of the white narcissi and the the white verbena uh set off by these leaves from jack in the pulpit culled from a garden which is turning increasingly spring-like as we worship together and today as you can tell from the way the petals are blowing we are enjoying a breezy day but not a cold one and a wonderfully blue sky with the sun shining down on us the colors of ukraine are still there the blue hyacinths and the golden yellow narcissi but we shall be telling the story of a journey of six ukrainian refugees from their homes two mothers who had been friends since before their children were born and their four children but of course the fathers had to stay in odessa which is where they've come from but that for later on in our reflection so that our thoughts can then focus again on the situation in ukraine but for the moment let's begin our morning prayers on this day of this feast day of saint joseph of nazareth oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands blessed are you sovereign god creator of heaven and earth to you be praise and glory forever as your living word eternal in heaven assume the frailty of our mortal flesh may the light of your love be born in us to fill our hearts with joy as we sing blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this 19th morning of the month is psalm 96 sing to the lord a new song sing to the lord all the earth sing to the lord and bless his name turn out his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all the peoples for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he is more to be feared than all gods for all the gods of the nations are but idols it is the lord who made the heavens honor and majesty are before him power and splendor are in his sanctuary ascribe to the lord you families of the peoples ascribe to the lord honor and strength ascribe to the lord the honor due to his name bring offerings and come into his courts o worship the lord in the beauty of holiness let the whole earth tremble before him tell it out among the nations that the lord is king he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved he will judge the people with equity let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad that the sea thunder and all that is in it that the fields be joyful and all that is in them let all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the lord for he comes he comes to judge the earth with righteousness he will judge the world and the peoples with his truth it's a wonderful psalm full of music but also hearing the trees of the wood shouting for joy and the images which jesus reveled in of the whole of creation telling the story of the wonderful gift of the spirit that the heavenly father wills to give his people and that there are signs of that in every part of created life so on this day when we'll have reminiscences of christmas because we are with joseph and i'm turning now not to us in john's gospel because this is a very special day indeed but just in matthew's gospel i'm in the second chapter and we're beginning to read at verse 13 we are at the point in the story where the wise men have gone back home by another root and not gone back to herod who is planning evil for the newborn child so verse 13 of chapter 2 in saint matthew's gospel now when the wise men had departed behold an angel of the lord appeared to joseph in a dream and said rise take the child and his mother and flee to egypt and remain there until i tell you for herod is about to search for the child to destroy him so joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to egypt and remained there until the death of herod this was to fulfill what the lord had spoken by the prophet out of egypt have i called my son then headed when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men became furious and sent and killed all the male children in bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet jeremiah a voice was heard in rama weeping and loud lamentation rachel weeping for her children she refused to be comforted because there are no more but when herod died behold an angel of the lord appeared in a dream to joseph in egypt saying rise take the child and his mother and go to the land of israel for those who sought the child's life are dead so joseph rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of israel but when he heard that archelaus was reigning over judea in place of his father herod he was afraid to go there and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of galilee and he went and lived in a city called nazaris so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled that he would be called a nazarene so we have there the story as told by saint matthew and we could have started earlier of course in chapter one because again joseph in chapter one is told in a dream that he mustn't be afraid to take mary his wife for what was conceived in her is of the holy spirit and when he is awakened in the more he rises the wonderful thing about this word rising means that having had the spiritual insight of the dream and we've been dealing very much in st john's gospel with that sense of how our humanity is able not only to be active physically and to think things out mentally and ponder and search in our minds but also to have a spiritual dimension which is fed who knows how and yet there are those moments and here is joseph in a dream having those moments and what do those moments intend that if you embrace them that physical and thoughtful i mean decisions uh action need to be taken and that word rose up which we've had several times after the dream so joseph rose and and then took a mental decision and a physical action for the care first of all of his betrothed mary he rose up and took her as his wife and cared for her and then we have the story of the birth and we can supplement that of course with the lucan story of the journey to bethlehem but then after that we have the time when joseph is warned in a dream that headed seeks the life of the newborn child so once again joseph rises up and that spiritual intuition and from the dream from the angel of the lord causes a mental decision brave mental decision which is going to require a long and dangerous journey but a mental decision and then a physical action and the physical action is to saddle the donkey uh and then take the the donkey and go to egypt on foot what a journey and they are in danger of their lives but in danger of so many other things as they go down into egypt but there he feels he can keep the holy family in safety all those things today in terms of human journeyings and then one can consider the time in egypt and i remember at probably at christmas time playing the shepherds farewell the berlioz in the infancy of christ there is one scene where he imagines a family in egypt helping mary and joseph and the young jesus in their life as exiles from their own country and giving them a sense of neighborly security before they go back home again following a dream given to joseph spiritual intuition and then a mental decision it's safe now to take the child and his mother back another journey a long journey and then finding that archelaus the son of herod is now the the tetrarch of of uh of judea and so it won't do and so after that he decides he will bypass judea and go to galilee which is safer back to nazareth and we know well he joseph is a carpenter and that is attested by the community in nazareth in sin mark's gospel the earliest gospel and matthew's gospel all of that we get from other gospels as we've said the gospels need not to be conflated because each is giving a very different message in their atmosphere and order but nevertheless assume that knowledge from one gospel is useful in another and i'm sure that the writer of the fourth gospel assumed a knowledge of the teaching and parables of jesus but also something of the ministry of joseph as not only the earthly father to whom jesus himself would be obedient now we could have gone on with that lesson so when we come to that he goes to nazareth so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled that he would be called a nazarene but after the story instant luke of the finding in the temple of jesus at the age of 12 when that sentence comes that i mentioned at the beginning child your father and i have sought you sorrowing and jesus says but didn't you know that i must be in my father's house and the two different meanings of father there the earthly father to whom jesus now goes goes back or with whom jesus goes back to to nazareth and we're told that he is obedient to his parents to mary and joseph and we give thanks for joseph's care of jesus as he grows up and no doubt he's making sure that he is taught all the things of the faith that joseph knows i always like to think that joseph on the journey to egypt as he walks along would have sung some of the psalms to mary to comfort her as they went and to calm fears and maybe she sang them with him who knows but there's so much music in the psalms and jesus knew those psalms so well that i can't but help feeling that that came from joseph and from mary one can speculate in all ways but i always want music to be present in everything it was time to return to their own land and they went back to nazareth and there we think of jesus and that's how he's called jesus of nazareth even on the inscription right across the cross itself put there by pilate jesus of nazareth the king of the jews and at the same time the name joseph takes us back to the old testament joseph who also was a dreamer and the lovely thing about the old testament joseph is the fact that his dreams are dreams which are prophetic and when one reads the story of joseph then there are connections resonances shall we call them between joseph the dreamer in the old testament here comes this dreamer say his brothers in a hostile way joseph the dreamer in the old testament and joseph the dreamer in the new testament who is the uh father the earthly father that jesus will be obedient to during his years of growing up we had the story of joseph uh read at the eucharist which i celebrated on friday morning as part of the uh sorry tiger is going to be part of the scene here but i think he's looking for something a bit more tiger here you are look here come on this side i don't think that's really the place for you up there tiger come on let's take this away and then here we are that's better isn't it you're in the way and i can i'm in the way rather and then you can go down over there all right you're okay come to join us let's make you welcome you've come on quite a journey as well come on that's okay that's uh that's special you know he's found the right place so i'll put the vars back so we might lose it if he's bumping about a bit so i'll i'll keep an eye on how things are um what i was going to say was in reading that that old testament lesson at the eucharist in the crypt on um friday i was then taken aback once again by the new revised standard versions translation of the code the beautiful code that jacob gave to his son joseph as a robe with long sleeves and underneath it says in an asterisk uh hebrew uncertain and then traditional rendering well that's the septuagint rendering of the greek uh that the early church would have used a coat of many colours how much better is that in terms of how we think of the pieces of the jigsaw being put in place in our own face and i think andrew lloyd webber got it right it was an amazing technicolor dreamcoat because in fact dreams are like that and in the morning as one tries to to remember them again you've always got to tell them straight away and they've gone in a moment but sometimes they cause action and here we are this is the other joseph's technical dream coach it's actually the whole pattern of his care of the holy family as as jesus grows up so let's then think of the journey that they made and what i wanted to say was that we have had told us over the telephone from fletcher's mother and his sister danny and arabella a little niece the story of the ukrainian jeff refugees who are coming from odessa who have come now from odessa right across europe from the eastern end to the western end of europe onto the south coast of spain to live with them in their house jackie and and danny and arabella said we can take six ukrainian refugees and and the contact was made very efficiently by the organizations of doing that and two mothers who had been best of friends since before their children were born got in touch with them from odessa and all the proper um certificates were signed and and but then came the journey and my goodness what a journey it was one of the mothers has two boys one age 16 his birthday was yesterday his 16th birthday and one age 13 and the other mother has two girls one age seven one age nine and they had to travel first of all from odessa to bucharest through moldova now they had to follow the routes where train journeys were being given free to those coming from ukraine and that was all a proper route but it meant that it was a route that was a bit secure to us from time to time and from time to time they would contact jackie and say where they were on 21-hour train journeys and every time they contacted there was a message on the telephone of grace and gratitude not only to the home they were going to and the community that was going to receive them but gratitude for the fact that they had managed to find one seat in that 21-hour journey and that the children could not only sleep on the floor but that one seat gave comfort and that was the story of the journey all the way along odessa to bucharest through moldova and then on in romania to brasov on the train to budapest in hungary then to bratislava and slovakia they started their journey a week ago and really they went they traveled almost day and night from then from bratislava in slovakia to vienna in austria and then these all sound beautiful cities but in fact all they are seeing are the railway stations full of people and then finding the next connection and maybe finding some food from the relief agencies and yet all the trains if they took the right ones were being given free by those countries to see them through and they knew where they were going and they also knew that a family was waiting for them at the other end they went then into northern italy and they saw genoa and turin to geneva and then to paris and from paris to barcelona they thought they were getting there then and we're going to arrive at a particular time because from there on they only had to go to from barcelona to valencia only i'm saying and then they found in barcelona that there was a train strike and at that point there was no train and so they had to wait for a bus journey in awful weather europe was throwing rain down at that time and they had to wait for the bus to take them from barcelona to valencia and the city of valencia marvelous city in spain a great it's the third biggest city in spain but in many ways it's a cultural capital of great moments and there are festival times and the festival of st joseph the falias in valencia is an amazing event it's it's one of the biggest of the fallacies which is the making of huge uh characters really and people choose as they make them guilds of of artists and carpenters and decorators make these huge figures quite often they're making a political point with the figure they make or a social point or there's a theme of the festival but they make them carefully through the year and then at the festival of st joseph they are paraded through the streets himself a carpenter of course and the craft skills parade them through the streets and huge processions from the various areas of the valenciana part of of spain come together and day by day different ones arrive and there are children's failures and those are placed on platforms in the middle of the city and then comes the day it's actually today when in the middle of the day the archbishop of valencia will celebrate a full sun mass forcing joseph and at that time after that um he will uh at the the festival at night turns into the burning and blazing of all these fallacies and a firework display to end all firework displays happens over them this is a festival of sin joseph and in spain also it's father's day today which makes all the sense in the world so in fact these refugees then uh came on the bus to try to get into the city of valencia with all the processions going on you can imagine it just as they thought they were getting there and the rain pouring down then the journey was held up again and uh what had happened uh to to to jackie and and danny and uh and are bella was that the whole community began to know about this coming of the ukrainian refugees and all wanted to be part of the welcome and the most wonderful moving things began to happen so that when dany went to the the ordinary pet shop to get things the pet shop uh staff said we know you have guests coming and we've been to the bakers and got all these pastries together and that's that was uh doubled and traveled all over the place arabella's school got in touch to say they were ready to give four hours daily teaching to the children when they came from ukraine all of that is drawing the community there together in the same way now the most important gift was the fact that a a car to take six refugees was needed from the airport in valencia back home to habia and uh step forward someone utterly unknown until then gary a driver who said i've got a big vehicle and it's loaded with petrol uh and i'd like to do this for you and he had uh filled it with rugs and and and cushions and at the same time his mother had baked sausage rolls and sandwiches this is the feeling of the community in welcome and gary set off to find them in valencia and remember what valencia was like and what the rain was like too and driving back it was pouring with rain but also there was a police check and that must have been quite scary for the ukrainians because they were thinking that they'd made it and suddenly spanish police stepped forward and began to talk to gary in a language that they didn't understand and at that point um uh that they they must have felt nervousness but then in the end all was well and they arrived at their new home probably at about two in the morning i think uh uh utterly worn out and we've been in touch today and of course they're sleeping and then they will wake but um already jackie and and danny and arabella who's really really excited about all this happening uh are are really delighted with that their guests and i'm sure that the 16th birthday which couldn't be celebrated yesterday for the eldest child uh will be celebrated with enormous hospitality if i know that household so that's a journey rather like the journey of joseph and gary himself is a carpenter and so the person who brought them through all that rain and uh where they went to sleep in the back of the the the vehicle that he was driving was a carpenter taking a journey and looking after them and down they came to a new home and they'll begin then to get to know that community and join arabella's school for a bit as well all of that we give thanks for it's only an icon a token a sign of what's happening all over europe and tomorrow we'll tell another story of folk that we know on journeys in that particular way but this one fits so well with the feast of st joseph and we give thanks for that there's one person today and i'm thinking of the the dreaming quality the intuition one person today that i want to mention and that is the actor paul schofield who died on this day the 19th of march in 2008 at the age of 86 and he'd be born in 1922. his father was a a head teacher at her spare point church of england school and he was an anglican and his mother was a roman catholic and paul scofield says and this comes from an interview with paul schofield paul schofield says he was baptized as a catholic but some days we were little protestants and on other days we were devout little catholics and the lack of direction in spiritual matters is still with me well that's no bad thing because the dimensions of both are feeding into to to paul scofield but he certainly had no doubt about where his dream was taking him he writes i was a dunce at school but at the age of 12 i went to vandine school at brighton where i discovered shakespeare they did one of his plays every year and i lived just for that he knew he wanted to interpret shakespeare and in the future and of course he would interpret other plays as well but he began uh with an early version of hamlet for which of course he became very very famous sata but um the the hamlet that he took part in there was a young ophelia and she was called joy and they got married very early on and that marriage uh lasted very very happily right through until his death since the age of 86 and joy died at the age of of of of 90. um so she outlived him a little but that marriage was the bedrock and the family the bedrock two children martin uh who became a senior lecturer here in the university of kent uh a lecturer in 19th century english and american literature and sarah a daughter and to paul schofield his family was everything wherever he went but his dream was to interpret shakespeare and very early on he astonished the world by his performance of hamlet with claire bloom as his ophelia and she said in an interview uh she became a famous actress in her own right of course she said um i had rather a crush on paul and this is written down i'm giving no secrets away uh and uh and thought that we you know it might be a bit flirty and she said but i was completely wrong he was absolutely focused on his family and on the part he was playing and that was the the absolute touchstone of his life on the way through that hamlet became something that caught the eyes of the world and he began to become an important shakespearing actor in the theater now he says of the theater this is him again one of the great strengths of the theater is that it is ephemeral it does exist only in what you remember and you can't check up on it afterwards and think that's not as good as i remember if any performance i've ever given stays in someone's mind that's so much more exciting than them being able to put it on the video and play it again it's shaping their life that was his dream and the theater was his natural amphitheater because it was present tense immediate and in physical mental and spiritual ways they were receiving the dream that he was trying to interpret it wasn't only shakespeare but there were many many shakespeare parts he played macbeth he played king lear he played hamlet again and again played time in of athens played ocelo played henry v played corey elena's and at the same time we remember him playing sir thomas moore in a man for all seasons in the theater very successfully in 1960 but again in the film he wasn't much taken with films the theater was his natural ground because of its immediacy and its present tense uh interpretation each time you did it but a man for all seasons quite different i think he must have loved that part because of moore's devotion not only to his spiritual vocation but also to his family and you remember moore's lovely letter to his family pray for me as i will pray for you and pray that we will meet merrily in heaven a lovely thing to say we shall meet merrily in heaven and i'm sure that's why schofield loved that sense of of moore's vocation and thinking also of moore's utopia utopia means a dream of a place it can either mean uh and from the greek the greek word ooh not and then topia of course means place so it could be not a place or it could mean if you took it another way the greek you which means good a good place that's a sort of eu sound and more actually never gave away whether it was one or the other but utopia is a place where everything is going well in society politically socially creatively welfare wise and it's a dream but it's a dream that moore was trying to effect for england at that time and schofield would have liked that too and so we think of him uh and the part that i always imagined that he would love to play and i found a quote about it this morning he did play it is prospero because of course prospero is a senior person with all the dreams around him with ariel and and and that that that that sort of almost magic kingdom and i found in the new york times a review of scofield playing prospero in london at the wyndham's theatre in 1975 and here it is it was written this review was written in the new york times of an a play being performed in england in on july the 27th 1975 this is wonderful mr schofield probably has the most purely beautiful voice in the english-speaking theater but it is a voice not just of empty beauty but a voice that has an almost moral tone to it it is a voice to stir rather than lull a voice where you remember the poetry it caresses rather than its own special vocal glories for the fact is that mr schofield is fundamentally a plain unvarnished actor completely at the service of his art nothing is wasted on false effect from his craggy troubled face his noble manner and compassionate eyes nothing is permitted that might strike a false note in this prospero of renunciation and grandeur it is also beguilingly direct a most beautiful and memorable portrayal obviously mr schofield has long wanted to create this benign god of a hero in prospero and he has created him with a deft and lovely economy well could anything better be said of that the way he has poured himself into that part and we then remember and give thanks for the fact that at the end of his life he had time he withdrew rather from public life and with joy would spend his time baking bread and taking walks and one thinks of him being memorably reflective and dwelling on those three facets of human life and blending them in an amazing technicolor coat of colors then as we think of that and of paul baking bread we think of the nourishment that he uh would give in every part that he played and we give thanks for the life of paul scofield and his life's journey on this st joseph's day of dreams and creativity and courage physical courage in the journey of life but also in very hard journeys and that we think of with those six refugees in mind we're going to wake up and i know find a birthday party ready for the eldest of the children who was 16 yesterday and they've come to journey's end for a while in the comfort of a new home so let's uh say our prayers this morning and of course we pray for all the people of ukraine at this time and in our anglican communion on this day for the diocese of kitakanto in the nippon seiko kai that's the anglican church of japan and here in the diocese for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover emma bishop at lambeth and the parish church of sin andrew barming heath made stone the parish priest position is listed as vacant you know so we pray for those searching for a new one and uh pray at the same time for all churches schools institutions which carry the name of saint joseph and pray for their community life at this time pray for the great festival going on in valencia of thanksgiving for this feast day so let's find the prayer for saint joseph's day and we will pray that here we are god our father who from the family of your servant david raised up joseph the carpenter to be the guardian of your incarnate son and husband of the blessed virgin mary give us grace to follow him in faithful obedience to your commands through jesus christ our lord our men and of course the lenten connect which we say every day during these weeks almighty and everlasting god you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may receive from you the god of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through jesus christ our lord amen so we say together in our many languages the prayer our savior taught us our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily brand and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men time for reflection now and uh we're going to use this music today a carol that i wrote for the girls choir i think probably in 2018 um and i know that the the last verse was actually finished in the home that that uh that our six ukrainian refugees have now found as a home and it's always been very much a home for us too here's the first verse and you'll hear the rest because we'll we'll we'll play that as our reflective music hard was the journey and crowded the pathways as joseph for mary sought shelter that night for galilee's home fires seemed far far behind them when bethlehem's lamps through the hills came in sight wearily wearily onward to bethlehem seeking a welcome and comfort within but voices there met them with no word of greeting and stark was the message no room at the end perhaps i should read the rest actually over earth's pathways the people are moving by will of great caesar compelled to leave home from valley and village in syrian landscapes the people are moving commanded to rome wearily wearily onward to bethlehem hoping as nightfalls some shelter to win but lamp lights and fire lights give false hope of welcome the doors close against them no room at the end through the bleak darkness comes one sound of welcome a voice-giving promise of shelter and rest some kindly words spoken a stable door opened to find there a manger as birds find their nest cheerily cheerily home now in bethlehem where for the christ child new life must begin for one voice of welcome enough for god's purpose is saying no longer no room at the end [Music] ah oh [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] is is [Music] christ give you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourself take up your cross daily and follow him and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always amen lovely to hear that uh last night alone in the uh program for red nose day comic relief which we remembered yesterday uh 42 million pounds was raised and a good proportion of that will go to ukraine and the other causes we were talking about yesterday and of course those contributions will continue to come in for the causes set out we were told by uh flesh's mother that she was awakened uh far too early after the the the night waiting by little arabella who tends to watch us on her uh telephone uh by running into her bedroom and shouting uncle robbie's got a red nose and i think jackie found it difficult to to explain why i had a red nose suddenly on the on the screen but uh anything to help raise that 42 million was a really good thing to do and if comedy does it then there's mighty smiles from everyone all round so enjoy your day the feast of st joseph [Music] how could it be this baby in my arms sleeping now so peacefully the son of god the angel said how could it be lord i know he's not my own not of my flesh not of my bone still this baby be a son of my love father showed me where i fit into this plan of yours how can a man be father to the son of god lord for all my life i've been a simple carpenter how can i raise a king how can i raise a king who looks so small his face and hands so fair and when he cries the sun just seems to disappear but when he laughs it shines again how could it be how could it be [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] we are witnessing the end of the annual cycle in the life of the fighters every 19th of march on the day of saint joseph the crema sets more than 700 fire sculptures on a purifying fire [Music] fighters which expressed the neighbourhood's human and intergenerational cohesion in a tradition that is passed from the parents to their children from the ashes the ingenuity and teamwork of the fadya group will emerge in the shape of a fadya [Music] its most remote origin is unknown medieval chronicles speak of fires fueled with wood and old furniture that the people of the neighborhoods made as a spring arrived other stories associate the celebration with the carpentry guild and the festivity of saint joseph but a little over 150 years ago the first data regarding the fadias as we know them today appeared on the streets of valencia peculiar sculptures made of wood clothing and wax appeared [Music] [Applause] [Music] since its origins the evolution of the festival has been constant an evolution which is reflected in the festival and the fadyas thanks to the essence of the festival's renovating spirit the social idiosyncrasy has always been visible in the mirroring critic of the falia as a showcase of reality [Music] every year thousands of valencians and tourists from around the world come to valencia to absorb the festival tradition and color the fagia is the axis which structures the festival it is an ephemeral installation created over one year which will be publicly displayed on the day of its erection or plantar the planter is the culmination of the work carried out by artists and faggias men and women in the shape of a great sculpture which is born from the void in the streets of valencia although mechanical means are present the tradition remains in some of them as they continue to be erected with a tomber [Applause] [Music] the fagia has a wooden structure and is covered with cardboard textiles and new materials [Music] but its soul is a satirical light-hearted and free criticism made on current celebrities and issues a satire provided by the ninots and their verses written in valencian which like scenes in a movie develop the central theme of the fire [Music] all the faggas have an explanatory guide or gibretz associated to them on which its central theme is told in the language of the valencians [Music] [Music] the free and democratic nature of the festival is evident each year with a reprieve of an enot elected by popular vote this figure will be saved from the fire and become part of the fighters museum an area where respect for the past and tradition can be felt the creation of the fagia involves a great effort as well as teamwork from many residents of the neighborhood the fageros to work in coordination the faders create task forces or commissions with specific functions the agora or meeting place of the commissions is the kazal a social cohesion space where ages genders and origins mingle around a common goal the creation of the fagia and the coordination of the year's social cultural and solidarity activities [Music] every faller commission annually elects its queens and courts of honor just as the festival of the fires of valencia elects its fire senior queens during their reign they will be the ambassadors of the festival wherever it will be required of them the fagya is a great social access which links people neighborhoods and towns with a history tradition and craft work [Music] thanks to the faggas a multitude of craft guilds co-exist and evolve [Music] the most important group is that of the faggias artists a mix of architects sculptors painters and decorators they are able to make the faja emerge from their hands integrating the latest technologies with ancestral manual procedures always ensuring that they respect the tradition they are artists who verbally transmits their knowledge but currently the new professionals can be trained in official centers thanks to the fighters group and the traditional attire accompanying the celebration of the faggas golden silversmiths hairstylists hand-held fan makers or silk workers enriched the festival with their creations [Applause] [Music] a tradition which has lived on over two centuries in the jacquard textile mills where thousands of silk threads interwine their colours with shuttles constantly running through them the result is works of art on fabric [Applause] [Applause] a tradition that evolves in the artisanal hands of silversmiths and in the precise stroke of the chiseler a firework tradition that runs through the veins of the valencians because one of the basic elements of the festival is the explosive powder in its diverse forms and presentations the trons they back the masculine days or the fireworks of the nietzdale fox invite tourists and visitors to join the festival [Music] foreign [Music] the fireworks professionals mix color and sound in perfect balance which beats inside the hearts and immerse valencia in a cloud of explosive powder [Music] [Applause] if the powder endows the faders with an explosive soundtrack the musicians who accompany the festival keep the yesteryear skulls alive traditional valencian music in the form of bands otaval and dolcena groups genuine and peculiar instruments of valencia's homeland [Music] the falias and its current global impact are the result of the fadias members teamwork represented by the central fadiaz board and public institutions which support the festival [Music] the work of the central faders board the democratic representative body of the faggas is strengthened by the great support that the city council of valencia has always offered the joint effort has achieved the global recognition of the festival the faggas are already part of a global network which spreads from valencia to the world [Music] in any country you can now follow live the fajas news its events and the heartbeat of the festival [Music] if you are in valencia and during the faggas you have to experience the festival on the street march becomes a month full of events related to the festival stroll through valencia observe how the city has transformed and immerse yourself in the fighters [Music] during the creeda the fagga senior queen invited you to participate in the festival if you have come to know the falias of valencia go out on the street and join the sea of people valencia cosmopolitan and avant-garde city invites you to discover its essentials during the fallas [Music] each falla organizes its own despertais on a daily basis you can start the day by vibrating with a trans day back [Music] on your tour of the city look and observe the beauty of the traditional costumes and their accessories [Music] listen to the music bands and the tabalan dolcena groups [Music] take photos of yourself next to the falias and fagueros and share your experiences on the social networks visit the fagias museums the falia's museum and the museum of the faggias artist at midday go to the city hall square and prepare yourself to vibrate with the sound of the maskleta [Music] if you are in valencia enjoy our gastronomy and the fruits of our land [Music] the flower offering to the virgin of the helpless is one of the most emotional events of the fagas [Music] when the night comes valencia and its streets are lit up in a spectacular way to receive its visitors [Music] during the neat del fogh the best fireworks professionals compete in a jewel of light and color [Music] and on the 19th do not miss the rebirth of the fagero cycle become part of the fallas and its common beat of human multicultural and intergenerational cohesion [Music] that night many towns of valencia become one great bonfire which renews life and feelings in order to start the life cycle once again which will mark the rebirth of the fighters next year [Music] [Music] so today sees the end of the six nations challenge with three different rugby matches going on and wales are playing italy and scotland are playing ireland and england are playing france and that match isn't until 8 o'clock tonight our time so that will be a noisy time but i shouldn't hear any of it because i shall be in the cathedral listening to the mozart requiem which is being sung by any volunteers who want to come and join the cathedral choir and rehearse during the day that rehearsal will be starting not in um quite soon now and they'll rehearse it and then we'll all go along and enjoy that particular service last night we had the school with the verdi requiem with massive orchestra from the school and a beautiful performance and the the first time that the school was able to come into the the nave of the cathedral since before the pandemic and sing to a full cathedral that wonderful work that is requiem [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] you