La Tomatina in Bunol, Valencia is the largest food fight on the planet. Every year approximately 40,000 tomato enthusiasts turn up for the biggest tomato fight in the world. 29th August 2012
Five bulbous, tomato-packed rockets are sent whistling into the sky to start the festival of La Tomatina. The masses congregated below then launch into a one hour frenzy of tomato throwing – it’s everyone for themselves.
One of the highlights of First Festival Travel’s tour packages is the optional excursion to a nearby village to experience their all night wine & water festival. We are very proud to be the only Tour Operator to be invited to this authentic fiesta. Join us for the festival experience of a lifetime!
La Tomatina History:
Several interpretations on the origin of this popular festival exist. According to some historians, its origin goes back to a “practical joke” that some friends wanted to play on a man who was crossing the town square singing and playing a musical instrument but, apparently, he was doing it so badly that some of the people around decided to take some tomatoes from a fruit and vegetable stall and throw them at him. Everybody else joined in and the end result was a tomato battle.
However, the most reliable and historical version says that everything started in 1945. The town square (where the “tomatina” is traditionally held nowadays) was crowded with young people of that time to witness a “Gigantes and Cabezudos” parade (giant carnival figures with a grotesque head). Some of them decided to join the authority committee and music band leading the parade and to do so they pushed the ones who were wearing the giant disguises.
One of the participants fell down and when he stood up he started beating everyone around so everybody got caught up in a fight. Fate or chance, there was a vegetable stall nearby with open crates showing the goods for sale. The young people involved in the fight took the tomatoes from the crates and started throwing them at each other until the police broke up “the battle”, and those responsible for the riot paid for the damages.
This riot was not forgotten and the next year on the same Wednesday of August the youths of the town met again at the square, but this time with their own tomatoes. This is how another battle started and once again was stopped by the local police. In fact, in the following years the authorities forbade the celebration of what was already popularly known as the “day of the tomatina”.
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