World's Largest Food Fight: Brief History of Tomatina Festival in Spain

Many tourists say that Spain is the country of endless fun and entertainment. Travelers from all over the world come to Spain not only due to its numerous resorts, places of interest and historical heritage but also thanks to their exciting festivals. Nowadays, Spain is the international leader in the number of organized holidays and festivals.



Being of the most unusual festivals, which take place in Spain, the Tomatina is an annual food fight, which involves gathering in a small town of Buñol. Tomatina attracts about 30 to 40 thousand participants, who go through 100,000 tons of tomatoes in this red, wet and sticky madness.

You can sure compare this festival to other unusual ones here:


Original video on YouTube: Best Festivals in the World: 10 Unusual Celebrations and National Customs

If you ever wondered why people started gathering to throw tomatoes at each other, here is a brief historical overview: back in 1945, during the national in carnival in Buñol, two friends got into a fierce quarrel. They weren’t able to sort out their differences with the help of words, so being angry at each other they started throwing tomatoes from the nearby greengrocer's stand.



One thing led to the other, and soon half of the street passers-by were exchanging the blows. The fun-loving Spaniards remembered this story and started throwing tomatoes at their next festivals.



The beginning of the biggest food fight in the world is heralded by the launch of special holiday fireworks from the main square of Buñol. After this the streets are being filled with contestants, who eagerly throwing tomatoes at their rivals and seek for new "juicy rounds", which are being brought to the "battlefield" by massive trucks.

The locals have already created a system to protect themselves from this madness – for the time of the festival no one wants to stay at home, so local residents close up their houses but only after covering their windows with special panels of plastic.



The same round of fireworks is used to notify about the end of the battle and after this, tired contestants go through one last festival ritual – they take a plunge into a pool, filled with freshly squeezed tomato juice.

Finally, if you would like to know more about Spain, here is a quick video presentation for you: Original video on YouTube: Spain: 10 Fun Facts & Presentation about Best Spanish Things

Image credits: 

1) www.ibtimes.co.uk/la-tomatina-2015-huge-food-fight-bunol-spains-annual-tomato-throwing-festival-turns-70-photos-1517184
2) www.thelittlethings.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/latomatina_01_cedgbu1.jpg
3) www.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/La_Tomatina_(25.08.2010)_-_Spain,_Bu%C3%B1ol_21.jpg