La Tomatina festival celebrated in Spain

The Spanish town of Bunol celebrated one of the world’s most popular food fights, La Tomatina festival in the town of Bunol on August 31. Thousands of people have pelted each other with tons of ripe tomatoes, creating a red, mushy mess in the annual “Tomatina” street battle in eastern Spain.At the fiesta in Bunol August 31, 160 tons of tomatoes were offloaded from six trucks into the crowd

packing the town’s streets for the hour-long battle that attracts many foreigners.

• >>The fight leaves the participants — many donning swimming goggles to protect their eyes — and the town’s streets drenched in red pulp. Organizers then hose the streets down within minutes of the event ending at noon, while participants can use public showers.

• >>The paid-entry event was inspired by a 1945 food fight between local children in the tomato-producing region.

• >>La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the small town of Bunol in Spain. Thousands of people make their way from all corners of the world to fight in the ‘World’s Biggest Food Fight’.

• >>The festival begins in the morning every year at around 11 when many trucks heave loads of tomatoes into the centre of the town, Plaza del Pueblo. The tomatoes usually come from a nearby town known as Extremadura, where they are available at cheaper price.

• >>The signal for the beginning of the great tomato fight is the firing of water cannons, and the madness then thrives on.

• >>However, according to traditional practice the festival should not begin until one brave enthusiast climb to the top of a two-story high, greased-up wooden pole and secures the ham kept at the top of it. As the process takes a long time and the elevation is quite difficult, the festival starts despite securing the meat.

• >>Though there is no certain evidence how this mega festival originated, the popular belief is that annoyed townspeople attacked the city councilmen with tomatoes during a town celebration during 1944-45.

• >>The festival is in honour of the town’s patron saints, Luis Bertran and the Mare de Deu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), a title of the Virgin Mary.

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