You might think you've seen some big food fights in your life, but you haven't seen anything until you've seen La Tomatina. La Tomatina is an annual tomato battle held on the last Wednesday of every August in the town of Bunol in Valencia, Spain. About 30,000 people from all over the world travel to Spain each year to join in this fun week long festival of fireworks and parades that ends with the world's biggest food fight.
This unusual Spanish tradition began around the year 1944, although no one knows exactly how it came about. Many believe that a little group of rabble-rouser townspeople started the tomato fight by throwing tomatoes at some city councilmen during a town meeting, while others claim that it came from the aftermath of tomato truck spillage. However it is this messy event began, it caught on with the people of Bunol until La Tomatina became an official holiday!
To kick off the tomato battle, the excited participants gather around the Plaza del Pueblo where a large, greased pole stands with a single ham at the very top. The fight begins when someone can climb to the top of the pole and get the ham, amidst the many others struggling to climb to the top. When the winner reaches the ham, water cannons fire to signal the start of La Tomatina and the victory of the ham retriever (who, by the way, gets to keep the ham).
Before the day begins, trucks haul in over 90,000 pounds of over-ripe tomatoes grown specifically for the big event. When the first water cannon fires, tomatoes start to fly and it's every man for himself! With tomatoes being thrown around freely, many people choose to wear clothes they won't be needing again, as well as goggles to protect their eyes. The people then fight for about one hour until a second water cannon fires to signal the end of La Tomatina.
After the fight, participants can head to the Bunol river where residents usually set up makeshift showers for those who wish to clean off. That night, firetrucks spray down the streets of Bunol to clean up the big squishy mess with water from a Roman aqueduct. At the end of the day, not only are the people happy, but the town sleeps easy knowing that the acid from the tomatoes is a great cleanser for their cobblestone streets!
Although La Tomatina may sound like mayhem to some, the fight is all in good fun with no other intentions in mind. There are even a few simple rules the tomato soldiers must follow to keep the battle safe and fun!
For instance:
- No one can bring in glass bottles or other hard and dangerous items that could be thrown and used to hurt someone.
- No one can rip another's clothing.
- Everyone must squish all tomatoes before throwing them to prevent painful impacts.
- All tomato throwing must stop at the sound of the second cannon.
So far, with these rules in place, La Tomatina has had no history of serious injuries or fatalities during the its annual tomato war, and continues to be a safe and fun Spanish tradition. Messy as it may be, I would definitely love to travel to Spain some day to be a tomato warrior. Would you take part in La Tomatina?
Author's Note: Sources:
http://www.latomatinatours.com/
http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/society/holidays/tomatina.asp
http://www.latomatina.com/
http://www.latomatina.org/tomatina/
