Like any extravagant Spanish festival, Tomatina also has several not entirely plausible 'biographies'. Some say the festival originated on the day when one of Buñol's numerous rulers took it into his head to appear at the central market and start playing some musical instrument there. Moreover, he did it so badly that someone in the crowd did not hesitate to throw a tomato from a stall at him. Another version claims it all began in 1945. Young people then gathered in the town square during a festive parade, and a brawl suddenly broke out. The fighters used tomatoes as weapons, and they enjoyed it so much that the next year they gathered in the same place to continue the fight. This time they brought their own tomatoes so as not to pay for the damaged goods.
However that may be, Spain has been celebrating this festival for almost seventy years, and for a long time it was subject to banning attempts. When it was first banned in 1957, disgruntled citizens organized a large procession called 'The Funeral of the Tomato'. In the middle of the procession was a group of young men carrying a coffin with a huge tomato on their shoulders, and at the head of the procession was an orchestra playing funeral marches. In 1959, the municipality allowed the Tomatina to be held, but with the mandatory condition that the battle last only one hour and begin and end with a special signal. Since 1980, the municipality for some reason began to organize the festival itself, resulting in a sharp increase in the number of tons of tomatoes thrown and the number of battle participants arriving from all corners of the planet.
Now, every last Wednesday of August, starting in the morning, people wearing whatever they please begin to gather in the city center. A curious thing: for some reason, in Europe all the most daring and crazy festivals are held in the city's most sacred spot - the square opposite the local mayor's office or town hall. Tomatina is no exception.
The signal for the start of the battle is a shot from an antique cannon, after which trucks with tomatoes slowly begin to move through the town's streets. The role of the battle participants is simply to toss them anywhere. Whereas any city mayors are jealous of their city's cleanliness, the Buñol mayor's office buys 120 tons of 'ammunition' every year, spending 9,000-10,000 euros to dirty the city as much as possible with tomato pulp. On average, each Tomatina participant has only 4 kg of tomatoes, but even that is more than enough to cover the walls, the pavement, and each other in an even red layer. The whole event ends no less exotically - with a dip in a huge pool installed in the center of Buñol, on the Plaza del Pueblo. The pool, of course, is also filled with tomato juice. There is usually no shortage of people willing to take a dip.
For the sake of this wonderful spectacle, about 35,000 people come to the Valencian town, even though there are slightly more than 9,000 locals. Young Americans and Australians show particular interest in the tomato war, because at home they will never see such mess in their lives. Moreover, after the battle there is usually music with fireworks and lots of delicious food. And there are usually no victims or injured in the tomato shootout. After all, it is the only war in the world where the fighters have an obligation: the ammunition must first be squashed so that, when it hits the body, it flattens out without causing pain...
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