Weird Festivals
Suffering from post-CNY depression? Fear not! Here's an odd festival that will probably have you laughing at its complete absurdity!
La Tomatina is celebrated annually on the last Wednesday of August in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain. On this day, 9,000 locals and 20,000 to 40,000 foreigners descend on the town to throw tomatoes at each other in honor of the Virgin Mary and St. Louis Bertrand. The tradition has been around since the 1940s, though it was briefly suppressed under the reign of Franco. It started during a parade, when young men who wanted to participate in the event staged a brawl in town's main square, the Plaza del Pueblo. Since there was a vegetable stand nearby, they picked up tomatoes and used them as weapons. The police had to intervene to break up the fight, and forced those responsible to pay the damages incurred.
The following year the young people repeated the fight on the same Wednesday of August, only this time they brought their own tomatoes from home. They were again dispersed by the police. After repeating this in subsequent years, the party was established. In 1950, the town allowed the tomato hurls to take place, however the next year it was again stopped. A lot of young people were imprisoned but the Buñol residents forced the authorities to let them go. The festival gained popularity with more and more participants getting involved every year. After subsequent years it was banned again with threats of serious penalties. In the year 1957, some young people planned to celebrate "the tomato's funeral", with singers, musicians, and comedies. The main attraction however, was the coffin with a big tomato inside being carried around by youth and a band playing the funeral marches. Considering this popularity of the festival and the alarming demand, 1957 saw the festival becoming official with certain rules and restrictions. These rules have gone through a lot of modifications over the years.
La Tomatina begins with a person attempting to scale a greased pole to capture a cooked ham while everyone else sings and dances. Once the ham is taken down from the pole, water cannons are fired at the participants and over 100 tons of tomatoes are dumped into the streets for throwing. Women are expected to wear white and men to wear no shirts. After the festival, fire trucks hose down the streets and participants use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomato paste from their bodies. After the cleaning, the village cobblestone streets are pristine due to the acidity of the tomato disinfecting and thoroughly cleaning the surfaces.
La Tomantina is certainly a weird, weird festival. Doesn’t it make throwing yusheng at your annoying cousins every Chinese New Year seem so normal in comparison?
