La Tomatina, Spain

What is La Tomatina Festival?

• It is the World's Biggest Food Fight' 
• It is only a part of a festival that last a complete week (Semana de Fiestas de Buñol).
• 

Where?

• This festival is hold in the town of Buñol, near to Valencia, in Spain.

When?

• The last Wednesday of August, each year.

Why?

• The festival is in honor of the town's patron saints, Luis Bertran and the Mare de Deu dels Desemparats, a title of the Virgin Mary.

But in reallity.......

• Everything began the last Wednesday of August in 1945, when young people where spending their time in downtown "La Plaza del Pueblo", looking the giants and big headed characters´s parade.
• These boys decided to take place into the parade, when they did that, they made that a giant fell down, who angried a lot, and began to hit everyone on his way.
• Unfortunatelly, there was a vegetables stant on the street, so people began to throw tomatoes to others, until the police finished the vegetable´s fight.
• Next year, these boys, in a volunteer way,  do over again the action, but this time they bring with them their own tomatoes.
• So, the boys became a legend, they were part of the story, and the Tomatina began.

What happens?

• Thousands of people all around the world come here to fight throwing tomatoes.  
• More than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.
• At around 11 am many trucks haul the bounty of tomatoes, that come from Extremadura (because they are cheaper there),  into the centre of the town, Plaza del Pueblo. 
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• Technically the festival does not begin until one brave soul has climbed to the top of a two-story high, greased-up wooden pole and reached the coveted ham at the top. 
• In practice this process takes a long time and the festival starts despite no one reaching the meaty prize. 
• The signal for the beginning of the fight is firing of water cannons, and the chaos begins. Once it begins, the battle is generally every man for himself.

• After an one hour the fighting ends. At this point, no more tomatoes can be thrown.
• The cleaning process involves the use of fire trucks to spray down the streets, with water provided from a Roman aqueduct. 
• The authorities seem more concerned with cleaning the town than cleaning the visitors, so some people find water at the Bunol River to wash themselves, although some kind residents will hose passers-by down. 
• Once the tomato pulp is flushed, the ground is clean due to the acidity of the tomato.

Special Food?

• Well, tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes.

!ATENTION PLEASE!

If you want to go, you must have a ticket. NO TICKET = NO ENTRY