La Tomatina

La Tomatina (Spanish pronunciation: [la tomaˈtina]) is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located 30 km / 19 miles from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol.

History

La Tomatina started the last Wednesday of August in 1945 when some young people went to the town square to attend the Giants and Big-Heads figures parade. The young boys decided to parade with a musician.

The energy of these young people caused one person to fall off the float. The participant flew into a fit of rage and started to hit everything in his path. There was a market stall of vegetables that fell victim to what soon became a furious crowd. People started to pelt each other with tomatoes until the local law enforcement ended the vegetable battle.

The following year, the young people picked a quarrel by their own decision and brought the tomatoes from home. Although the police broke up the early tradition in the following years, the young boys had made history without being conscious about it. La Tomatina was banned in the early 50s, which was not a problem for the participants who were even arrested. But the people spoke and the festivity was again allowed with more participants and more frenetic feelings.

The following year the young people repeated the fight on the last Wednesday of August, only this time they brought their own tomatoes from home. They were again dispersed by the police. After repeating this in subsequent years, the tradition was established. In 1950, the town allowed the tomato hurl to take place, however the next year it was again stopped. A lot of young people were imprisoned but the Buñol residents forced the authorities to let them go. The festival gained popularity with more and more participants getting involved every year. After subsequent years it was banned again with threats of serious penalties. In the year 1957, some young people planned to celebrate "the tomato's funeral", with singers, musicians, and comedies. The main attraction however, was the coffin with a big tomato inside being carried around by youth and a band playing the funeral marches. Considering this popularity of the festival and the alarming demand, 1957 saw the festival becoming official with certain rules and restrictions. These rules have gone through a lot of modifications over the years.

Another important landmark in the history of this festival is the year 1975. From this year onwards, "Los Clavarios de San Luis Bertrán" (San Luis Bertrán is the patron of the town of Buñol) organised the whole festival and brought in tomatoes which had previously been brought by the local people. Soon after this, in 1980, the town hall took the responsibility of organizing the festival.

Since then, the number of participants increased year after year as well as the excitement about La Tomatina Festival. In 2002, La Tomatina of Buñol was declared Festivity of International Tourist Interest by the Secretary Department of Tourism due to its success.

In 2013, city officials introduced an entry fee and limited the number of participants, citing concerns over safety.^[1]

Description

Preparing the "palo jabón".

Throwing tomatoes from a truck.

At around 10 a.m., festivities begin with the first event of the Tomatina. It is the "palo jabón", similar to the greasy pole. The goal is to climb a greased pole with pork on top. As this happens, the crowd works into a frenzy of singing and dancing and gets showered in water from hoses. Once someone is able to drop the pork off the pole, the start signal for the tomato fight is given by firing the water shot in the air and trucks make their entry. The signal for the onset is at about 11 when a loud shot rings out, and the chaos begins.^[2] Several trucks throw tomatoes in abundance in the Plaza del Pueblo. The tomatoes come from Extremadura, where they are less expensive and are grown specifically for the holidays, being of inferior taste.^[3] For the participants the use of goggles and gloves are recommended. The tomatoes must be crushed before being thrown so as to reduce the risk of injury. The estimated number of tomatoes used is around 150,000 or over 40 metric tons.^[4] After exactly one hour the fight ends with the firing of the second shot, announcing the end. The whole town square is colored red and rivers of tomato juice flow freely. Fire trucks hose down the streets and participants use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomato paste from their bodies. Some participants go to the pool of “los peñones” to wash. After the cleaning, the village cobblestone streets are pristine due to the acidity of the tomato disinfecting and thoroughly cleaning the surfaces.^[5]

Rules of the festival

The city council follows a short list of instructions for the safety of the participants and the festival:

1. The tomatoes have to be squashed before throwing to avoid injuries.
2. No other projectiles except tomatoes are allowed.
3. Participants have to give way to the truck and lorries.
4. After the second shot indicative of ending the tomato hurl, no tomatoes should be thrown.

In other countries

La Tomatina Buñol has inspired other similar celebrations in other parts of the world:

• Since 1982, the town of Twin Lakes, Lake County, Colorado has held a tomato fight called the "Colorado Texas Tomato War," in which Texans and Coloradans square off with tomatoes; the Coloradans also attempt to overtake the Texans' straw Alamo effigy, generally succeeding.
• Since 2004 the Colombian town of Sutamarchán holds a similar event on 15 June when a surplus of tomatoes is harvested.
• In Costa Rica the town of San José de Trojas (Valverde Vega Canton) celebrates a tomatine during the local Tomato Fair in February.
• In the town of Dongguan in southern Guangdong province in China, a tomato fight is held on 19 October, during which they use up to 15 tons of tomatoes.
• The City of Reno, Nevada in the United States also has an annual hour-long tomato fight that started in 2009. The event seems to take place on the last Sunday of August and is organized by the American Cancer Society. Organizers named the festival La Tomatina, and give full credit for the idea to the Spanish festival.
• On February 12, 2011, at the field of Esparraguera, town of Quillón, VIIIth Region, Chile, the first version of the Great Tomato War was held under the auspices of the local municipality and a private firm. Like the Spanish Tomatina, it was a playful battle involving young people.
• The video game company Namco included a scenario that mimics the Tomatina event in the 6th installment of the saga Tekken fighting game.
• The festival was recreated for the song "Ik Junoon (Paint it red)" from the 2011 Hindi film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.
• In the Indian state of Karnataka, the Karnataka Government banned the hosting of such a Tomatina event in Bangalore and Mysore, after private organizers tried to organize one. Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda is quoted as saying: "In the name of 'La Tomatina' festival, permission should not be granted to waste tomatoes". A similar event planned in Delhi was cancelled after it received negative response from the public.^[6]
• Milwaukee's East Side Association holds an annual Tomato Romp during September in coordination with a Bloody Mary drink contest. Held since at least 2009 it is limited to 250 people in a caged-in area.
• Funtasia Island, Patna hosted a similar La tomatina Holi event on March 26, 2013 at Funtasia Water Park in Patna, India.^[7]
• On July 27, 2013 the city of Chicago held a moderately sized tomato fight called the "tomato blast^[8]" in homage to the tomatina.
• Frederick, MD hosted a similar "Tomato bash!"^[9] event on August 3, 2013 at the E-vent Plex Frederick Fairgrounds.

See also

• Fiestas of International Tourist Interest of Spain

References

1. ↑ Spanish austerity comes to tomato-throwing festival The Financial Times. Retrieved Aug 24, 2013
2. ↑ http://living.oneindia.in/cosmopolitan/cosmo-life/2011/la-tomatina-festival-history-160911.html
3. ↑ lasprovincias.es: Bunyol bathing in extremenian tomato.
4. ↑ http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/fiestas/tomatina.asp
5. ↑ http://www.firstfestivaltravel.com/latomatina.htm
6. ↑ "Bangalore's Tomatina festival cancelled". NDTV 24x7. Retrieved 17 September 2011. 
7. ↑ Splash of La Tomatina adds to park revelry - Funmakers get drenched in tomatoes instead of gulal ahead of festival Calcutta Telegraph. Retrieved Mar 27, 2013
8. ↑ http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=9187470
9. ↑ http://thetomatobash.com/washington-dc/

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Tomatina.

• Official page la Tomatina
• Official Tickets bus to travel to la Tomatina
• World's Biggest Food Fight - slideshow by Travel magazine
• Time for Some Tomatina! - Article by PioneerChef magazine

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