What is tomato festival in Spain?
La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol (history) near to Valencia in Spain. Prior to 2013 anywhere from 40,000 to 50,000 (reported to be 50,000 in 2012) people crammed into this huge tomato fight, greatly expanding Bunol’s normal 9,000 person population.
Why is tomato festival celebrated?
La Tomatina is essentially a religious celebration. Although religious, the festival is not a rites of passage event (Turner: 203). As stated earlier, the purpose for the festivities is to honor Bunol’s patron saint San Luis Bertran, and also the Virgin Mary (Tomatina).
Why is there a tomato fight in Spain?
Its purpose is purely for entertainment. The festival carries on a tradition that started in 1945 and has now become a staple of Spanish tradition in Valencia. La Tomatina is also the world’s largest state-sanctioned food fight.
What is La Tomatina where and why is it celebrated?
La Tomatina is a festival held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in the east of Spain which sees crowds gather to throw tomatoes at one another. It has been held each year on the last Wednesday of August since 1945. In 2015, it was estimated that almost 145,000kg of tomatoes were thrown during the festival.
What celebration throws tomatoes?
La Tomatina
La Tomatina (Spanish pronunciation: [la tomaˈtina]) is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in the East of Spain 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes.
Where did throwing tomatoes come from?
The first reference to throwing these rotten vegetables at bad stage acts came in an 1883 New York Times article after John Ritchie was hit with a barrage of tomatoes and rotten eggs by an unpleasant audience in New York.
How did the tomato festival start?
This popular festival began by accident on the last Wednesday in August in 1945 during a parade in People’s Square. There was a parade taking place with musicians, giants, and large heads, and a few youngsters made one of the participants fall, hitting everything that got in his way.
Why is La Tomatina not considered a waste of food?
But people in Valencia say the tomatoes used for La Tomatina are no good for anything else. Not only are they about to start rotting, but these particular tomatoes – bought extremely cheaply from the Extremadura region of Spain – are of such low quality that they were pretty much inedible to start with.
How long does the tomato fight last?
Usually, the fight lasts for about one hour, after which the town square is covered with tomato debris. Fire trucks then hose down the streets and participants often use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomatoes from their bodies.
Where is La Tomatina celebrated?
La Tomatina (Spanish pronunciation: [la tomaˈtina]) is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in the East of Spain 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Mediterranean , in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes.
When is the Tomato Festival in Spain?
La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol (history) near to Valencia in Spain.
Where is the Tomato Festival in Spain?
La Tomatina. La Tomatina ( Spanish pronunciation: [la tomaˈtina]) is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in the East of Spain 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Mediterranean , in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes.
What is Tomatina festival?
La Tomatina Festival is a food fight festival held annually on the last Wednesday of August in the small town of Bunol , which is located near Valencia in Spain.