La Tomatina, a unique holiday taking place on the last Wednesday of August each year. It is when the only few thousand inhabitants of Buñol are visited by huge numbers of tourists who want to throw tomatoes!
The history of this holiday dates back to 1945, when during the parade of the Great Heads (Gigantes y cabezudos), a group of young people had been walking and stopped by a vegetable shop. The end of this story may seem obvious. In 1946 the participants of this vegetable game decided to repeat it. This time they used their own tomatoes.
The battle became an annual tradition, at first strongly fought by the city authorities, punishing the participants with fines. At that time, did anyone suspect that it could become such an unusual tradition? La Tomatine was recognised by the municipal authorities in 1957 and since then the event has been gaining in popularity. In 2012, the number of participants reached as many as 50,000. Therefore, a restriction on the number of participants taking part in the battle was applied and reduced to 20,000.
The battle begins when the Spanish jamón serrano ham is reached, which is stuffed on a post greased with soap. In the battle, the most important participant is the tomato – however, it is a unique variety with reduced taste, which is simply cheaper than tomatoes sold in warehouses.
Who do you think is having more fun in the battle? The participants or the inhabitants pouring water on them?
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