Tomato Festival
Adventure in Bunyol:
Not far from Valencia (Spain) is a small town named Bunyol. This city has gained global popularity due to its festival “La Tomatina”, which is held on every last Wednesday of August.
Tomato fight gathers thousands of eager adventures from around the world. Fighting always starts at the same time, at 11 a.m. and lasts for two hours.To prepare for La Tomatina, residents grow tomatoes throughout the year; these fill twelve trucks and weigh about 200,000 pounds. Tomatoes should be neither too soft nor too hard, but they must be at the right stage as the “fighters” should not be injured.
Fun starts when the bell rings!
When you enter the square, you will experience the smell of rotten tomatoes, which makes sensitive tourists immediately give up the adventure. To protect their houses and shops, residents place wooden panels on the front door. Some of them have special protective foils over the windows and entrances. However, there are many of them that go to their terraces and pour buckets of cold water to chill fighters.
The battle begins with the first ring of the bell.
Then, thousands of people grab tomatoes and shoot known and unknown people. Tomatoes fly in all directions. The general atmosphere is unforgettable. It is important to say that nobody is angry; they are all cheerful and smiling. After two hours of fighting, the bell alerts that the participants can go to the showers or to a nearby river to get clean from the tomatoes.
Stay safe and enjoy this awesome festival
La Tomatina Festival has security rules that must be followed by all participants. One must not bring sharp objects or glass or lighters. Tomatoes should be crushed before throwing.
If you choose to visit La Tomatina you should wear old clothes, since after the festival everything from shoes to shirts becomes unusable. Take diving goggles so tomato would not come into contact with your eyes. If you have forgotten them do not worry, the kind sellers will offer them to you at a somewhat higher price than usual.
If you want to take pictures, bring a waterproof camera with you. On the other hand, if you are not willing to become filthy or find yourself on the floor covered with crushed tomatoes, stay in the nearby streets and in no way enter into the very center of events.
Origins
Tomato Festival has a long tradition dating since 1945. According to legend, a young boy took down a “figure” (a man who was wearing a mask in the shape of the head of some celebrity), who then got up and attacked the boy. To defend the boy, his comrades began to shoot him with tomatoes that were there.
Police showed up and broke up the incident. Next year the same group of young men returned to the square in Bunyol and started shooting all the participants of the festival “Big Head” with tomatoes that they brought from their homes.