La Tomatina is an annual festival held in the town of Buñol, in the Valencia region of Spain. The celebration is famous for its mass tomato fight involving tens of thousands of participants from around the world.
The event takes place on the last Wednesday of August. For one hour, the town center transforms into a tomato battle arena that fills the main thoroughfares.
An Unintentional Incident in 1945
The tradition originated from an accidental incident during the gigantes y cabezudos (giants and big-heads) parade in 1945. At that time, a group of young people caused a disturbance near the music stage, knocking over one of the parade participants.
The participant's anger sparked a scuffle near the event area. The youths then took tomatoes from a nearby vegetable shop to throw at the parade contingent.
Local police quickly broke up the brawl. However, the same group of youths brought tomatoes from their own homes to repeat the action the following year.
The Buñol town council temporarily banned the activity in the early 1950s. The ban met strong protests from local residents until the government officially recognized it as a cultural festival in 1957.
Festival Operational Procedures
Organizers enforce several technical rules to ensure participant safety during the festival. Participants must crush the tomatoes before throwing them so that the impact does not cause injuries.
Visitors are prohibited from bringing hard objects, glass bottles, and sharp items into the festival area. Participants are also advised to wear swimming goggles to protect their eyes from the acidic tomato juice.
The event begins with the tradition of climbing a greased wooden pole (palo jabón). Organizers place a leg of ham at the top of the pole as a prize for whoever manages to reach it.
The first siren sounds when the ham is retrieved or when the climbing time limit expires. The siren serves as the official signal for the start of the one-hour tomato fight.
One hour later, a second siren sounds to mark the end of the celebration. All participants are required to stop throwing tomatoes immediately after hearing the siren.
Preparing Hundreds of Tons of Tomatoes
The town council supplies around hundreds of tons of tomatoes to support the festival each year. The entire supply is transported using large trucks to the central event area at Plaza del Pueblo.
The tomatoes used are sourced specifically from the Extremadura region. The chosen variety consists of low-grade, overripe tomatoes with a very soft texture that do not meet fresh market retail standards.
Using the variety serves the technical purpose of reducing fruit hardness to prevent injury upon impact with participants. Additionally, the supply is purchased at a special rate allocated from the local government tourism budget.
Supply trucks move slowly through thousands of participants along Buñol's main street. Crew members atop the truck beds unload the cargo and distribute the initial tomato pulp into the crowd before the fight fully begins.
Cleaning Up the Buñol Town Arena
After all events conclude, town sanitation workers immediately enter the festival area. Street cleaning is conducted using water sprays from Buñol fire engines.
Residual tomato liquid on the streets washes away with the sprayed water. High pressure from the fire hoses loosens remaining tomato pulp and seeds clinging to building walls and pavement surfaces.
Local residents wash down the fronts of their respective homes and shops using garden hoses. Some festival participants also use the water streams to rinse tomato residue off their bodies.
All cleanup wastewater drains into the town sewage system, which empties into the Buñol River. The town center is cleaned and street access reopens within two hours after washing is complete.
