ByRahul sinha

Where and when does this festival take place?

HistoryIt all started in August 1945 when there was a procession of ‘Giants and Bigheads’ in the villagesquare. Some young people started messing around and pushed the participants in the procession, presumably because they wanted to take part as well. One of the participants fell over and got soangry that he started to hit everybody within reach, and a big fight ensued.

Somebody grabbed the tomatoes from a nearby vegetable stall and people started throwing them at each other. However,the police soon interfered and broke up the fight. The responsible party was fined and made to pay the damages. The following year the youngsters repeated the battle, only this time they had brought their own tomatoes. Once again the police broke it up, but the same thing repeated itself year after year until it became an unofficially established festival

However, in the early fifties the town hall prohibited the festival, which nevertheless went on as if nothing had happened. The participants were arrested and put in prison. People now started petitioning for the festival to be made legal, and they were so persistent that the town hall eventually gave in. But unfortunately the next year the crowd became very unruly and threw tomatoes and water at everybody, so also people who only wanted to watch got hit, amongst them some rather important local dignitaries, so the festival was.

banned again . In 1955 as a protest the people of Buñol celebrated the ‘Funeral of the Tomato’. They carried a coffin with a big tomato inside through the town accompanied by a band which played funeral music.In 1957 the festival was finally approved for good, and it has been celebrated every year ever sincethen on the last Wednesday of the month of August.

Some rules of the FestivalThe following rules have been set down by the Buñol Town Council:• It is illegal to bring any kind of bottles or other objects that could cause an accident.• You must not tear t-shirts.• Tomatoes must be crushed before throwing so that they don't hurt anybody.• You must be careful to avoid the lorries which carry the tomatoes.

When and How it startsAt around 10 AM, festivities begin with the first event of the Tomatina. It is the "palo jabón", similar to the greasy pole. The goal is to climb a greased pole with a ham on top. As this happens, the crowd work into a frenzy of singing and dancing while being showered in water from hoses. Once someone is able to drop the ham off the pole, the start signal for the tomato fight is given by firing the water shot in the air and trucks make their entry.

The signal for the onset is at about 11 when a loud shot rings out, and the chaos begins. Several trucks throw tomatoes in abundance in the Plaza del Pueblo. The tomatoes come from Extremadura, where they are less expensive and are grown specifically for the holidays, being of inferior taste. For the participants the use of goggles and gloves are recommended. The estimated number of tomatoes used are around 150,000 i.e. over 40 metric tons.

After exactly one hour, the fight ends with the firing of the second shot, announcing the end. The whole town square is coloured red and rivers of tomato juice flow freely. Fire Trucks hose down the streets and participants use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomato paste from their bodies. Some participants go to the pool of “los peñones” to wash.

Thousands of participants come from all over the world to fight in a brutal battle where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.

some pictures of the festival

Approximately 20,000–40,000 tourists come to the tomato fight, multiplying by several times Buñol's normal population of 9,000.

In preparation for the dirty mess, shopkeepers use huge plastic covers on their storefronts in order to protect them from the tomatoes.

The fireworks sounds mark the begining of the Tomatina at 11 (Tomato Fight!)

One hour later, the fireworks mark the end of the fight.

At this point, no more tomatoes can be thrown.

Thank you