La Tomatina

La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on a Wednesday towards the end of August in the town of Buñol in the Valencia in Spain. Thousands of participants come from all over the world to fight in a harmless battle where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.

The festival features music , parades , dancing and fireworks.. On the night before the tomato fight, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest.( Paella is a typical Spanish dish)

Approximately 30,000 tourists come to the tomato fight, multiplying by several times Buñol's normal population of 9,000. There is limited accommodation for people who come to La Tomatina, and thus many participants stay in Valencia and travel by bus or train to Buñol, about 38 km outside the city. In preparation for the dirty mess that will follow, shopkeepers use huge plastic covers on their storefronts in order to protect them .

The tomatoes come from Extremadura , where they are less expensive. The signal for the beginning of the fight is firing of water cannons. Once it begins, the battle is generally every man for himself. Those who partake in this event are strongly encouraged to wear protective safety goggles and gloves. In addition, they must squish the tomatoes before throwing for safety precautions. Another rule is that no one is allowed to bring into this fight anything that may provoke someone into a more serious brawl, such as a glass bottle. Although it is forbidden to tear someone else's clothing, the crowd tend to ignore this and invariably will rip the shirt of any clothed person, man or woman. After exactly one hour, the fighting ends when the water cannons are fired once more to signal the end. At this point no more tomatoes can be thrown. The cleaning process involves the use of fire trucks to spray down the streets, with water provided from a Roman acueduct. The authorities seem more concerned with cleaning the town than the visitors so some people find water at the Buñol River to wash themselves, although some kind residents will hose passers-by down.

The festival is in honor of the town's patron saints, Luis Bertrán and the Mother of God of the Defenseless, a title of the Virgin Mary.

The festival is held the fourth, or last, Wednesday of August.