Tomatina, violent action
Tomato fights in Spain are known all over the world. Every year, on the last August Wednesday, in a town near Valencia Bunol, the partying starts early on that week, the highlight starts between 11am and 1pm on Wednesday.Thousands of fruit-flingers takes a part in the tiny village for unforgettable tomato fight. La Tomatina is the opportunity of a lifetime – let battle commence! More than 30,000 strong army are prepared for the violent action.
If we look back in the history of this particular event, the origins doesn’t seem to be very clear, there are few theories that explanes how the Bunyol town has become the home of Tomatina, however, the most commune version dates back in 1945, when a huge, annual parade with enormous figures with big heads was going on in the streets of the town, and youngsters tried to join it.
They disturbed one of the giants, in retaliation one of the boys grabbed some tomatoes from a nearby vegetable market and started throwing them at him until the police arrived to resolve the things out.
They send five bulbous, tomato-packed rockets are sent whistling into the sky and the masses launch into a frenzy of flinging, slinging and lobbing – it’s every man and woman for themselves. It has become the spot of Spain’s summer festivals calendar, with thousands of people going to this tiny little town for chaotic Tomatina festival. Sure that most of the participants are youngsters who just take a cheap accommodation in Valencia and take the train to this little town.
There are few rules to know before you go to this crazy event, before you throw it to the red blur of the crowed, you have to squish the tomato, so that they don’t hurt anybody. You are not allowed to shoot in the projectiles and another important rule is, you must be careful to avoid the lorries which carry the tomatoes.
And don’t be worry about that you are running out tomatoes, there is a plenty of ammunition – 125,000 kilo arsenal of ripe fruit brought in by trucks. It’s so much fun that you can not imagine, just make sure you take a clothes with you to change afterwords, there are some public showers near the river in Bunyol, you might need them.
