Spanish festivals have a reputation for being wacky, and La Tomatina is probably the wackiest of them all.
The town of Buñol, stresses that La Tomatina is a festival to promote happiness and entertainment. To prevent any mishaps, there are a few rules to the festival: The tomatoes must be squashed prior to throwing. Tomato is the ONLY throwing object permitted.
In the early 1950s, La Tomatina was banned from taking place in Buñol by the local authorities. According to a La Tomatina travel website, the festival was banned by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco for having no religious significance.
La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol (history) near to Valencia in Spain.
Every year, the end of August sees the streets of the small Valencian town of Buñol become rivers of tomato juice, as people from all over the world throw over-ripe tomatoes at each other in this state-sanctioned food fight.
All started the last Wednesday of August in 1945 when some young people spent the time in the town square to attend the Giants and Big-Heads figures parade. The young boys decided to have a place among the retinue of a parade with musician, Giants and Big-Heads figures.
Here are a few fun facts to consider before joining the fun this summer.
It’s the biggest food fight in the world
Every year some 40,000 people descend on the tiny Valencian town of Buñol for one day to pelt each other with tomatoes.
La Tomatina originated from a street brawl
The story goes that, during a more sombre street parade back in 1945, a street fight broke out when one rowdy local started to pelt everyone with vegetables from a nearby market stall.
A group of young people retaliated, and a huge food fight broke out. The following year, the same people picked a fight on purpose and brought their own supply of tomatoes.
Although the police broke up the new tradition for a few years, and it was banned in the early 1950s, the popularity of the food fight lived on and the tradition was eventually brought back.
Around 40 metric tonnes of tomatoes are used
The fight only lasts for one hour, but during that time around 150,000 over-ripe tomatoes are splattered. These tomatoes were probably never going to be eaten – they’re low in quality, inferior in taste and are bought very cheaply from the Extremadura region of Spain.
To festival-goers it’s just messy, harmless fun, but others criticise the celebration for its massive amount of food waste. Copycat festivals have sprung up around the world, but in India such events were quickly banned after public outrage over all those wasted tomatoes.
It all starts with ham
At 10am on the day of La Tomatina, a jamón is hung on the top of a greasy pole in the crowded town square. The goal is to be the first person to climb up the slippery pole and retrieve the ham, with the crowd chanting and singing encouragement (all the while being drenched with water from hosepipes, for some reason). The moment the ham is dislodged, a loud signal goes off, the tomato trucks appear, and chaos ensues.
What to wear is key
The majority of participants wear white, presumably because of the heat, or to see exactly how much of a mess the tomatoes make of their clothes. But you’ll see plenty of Spanish men hurling tomatoes at each other in just their underpants, while plenty of people wear swimming goggles or snorkelling gear to keep the purée out of their eyes and nose.
La Tomatina is essentially a religious celebration. Although religious, the festival is not a rites of passage event (Turner: 203). As stated earlier, the purpose for the festivities is to honor Bunol’s patron saint San Luis Bertran, and also the Virgin Mary (Tomatina)
It’s a big deal for tourism
The one-hour tomato fight is such a big draw that it makes the little town of Buñol one of the most popular tourist destinations in the area. Accommodation is scarce and expensive in the town itself, so most arrive on packed trains from Valencia.
Tomatoes keep you clean
Tomatoes are apparently a natural disinfectant, meaning that after La Tomatina your skin will be cleansed of impurities. The town is also left surprisingly clean, with firefighters hosing down the streets – and people – after the battle.
There are copycat festivals
The festival has been recreated all around the world, with versions of the event popping up everywhere from Colombia to China. One attempt at holding a similar tomato fight in Bangalore, India, was highly controversial because of the ‘wastage of tomatoes’, and the event was soon banned.
It has its own Google Doodle
You know something must be a big deal when it has its own Google Doodle. Even Google marks the festival with its temporary banner celebrating La Tomatina.
It’s more than just tomatoes
La Tomatina is not just a short tomato fight. The week leading up to the main event is filled with parades, fireworks and paella cooking contests on the streets of the town.
Usually, the fight lasts for about one hour, after which the town square is covered with tomato debris. Fire trucks then hose down the streets and participants often use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomatoes from their bodies.
