La Tomatina

Month : August
Place : Valencia, Spain
Famous For : Food Fight Festival
Attractions : Throwing of tomatoes, music, parades, dancing & fireworks .

La Tomatina is a food fight festival observed in the town of Bunol in Valencia, Spain. It is held every year on the last Wednesday of August. The most unique attraction of this week-long festival is the one hour in which tens of metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets. Other features of this tomato bash include music, parades, dancing, and fireworks. Participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest on the night before the festival.

Major Attractions

The start of the festival of La Tomatina dates back to 1945, but it was officially recognized after 1952. On this occassion of La Tomatina, it is tradition for the women to wear all white and the men to wear no shirts. The festival is celebrated in honor of the town's patron saints, St. Louis Bertrand (San Luis Bertron) and the Mare de Du dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), a title of the Virgin Mary. There are no certain reasons behind the start of this fun gala, however, possible theories on how the Tomatina began include a pie local food fight among friends. Other stories like a juvenile class war, a volley of tomatoes from bystanders at a carnival parade, a practical joke on a bad musician, and the chaotic aftermath of an accidental lorry spillage are also interesting. One of the most popular theories is that disgruntled townspeople attacked city councilmen with tomatoes during a town celebration. Whatever happened to begin the tradition, it was enjoyed so much that it was repeated the next year, and the year after that, and so on.