Spain’s famous ‘Tomatina’ festival was back on Wednesday after a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic. People from all over the world descended on the eastern Spanish town of Bunol like before to take part in the annual street fight celebrating its 75th edition this year. The iconic event termed "the world's biggest food fight" has been a big draw for international tourists for a few decades now.
Revellers hurled some 130 tonnes of over-ripe tomatoes at each other Wednesday as the "Tomatina" festival kicked off, with six trucks loaded with the juicy fruit driving through the main street that was left drenched in red pulp, news agency Reuters reported. According to an Associated Press report, nearly 20,000 people were to participate in the festival, and they paid 12 euros for a ticket. Participants usually wear swimming goggles to protect their eyes.
The noon fight held on the last Wednesday of August lasts an hour, and within minutes of it ending the streets of Bunol are hosed down and the revelers showered off.
History Of Tomatina Festival
The Tomatina festival originated in 1945, reportedly inspired by a small food fight between local children of Bunol, which is located in a tomato-producing region.
Banned for a couple of years in the 1950s during General Francisco Franco's dictatorship, the festival went on to gain popularity across Spain in the following decades, before becoming an international spectacle drawing large crowds of tourists from all across the globe.
As the festival started to get too crowded, the organisers limited the capacity and made it a ticketed event.
Quoting local officials, the AP report said they expected fewer foreign visitors this year because of Covid is not really over yet.
Besides being the event’s 75th anniversary, this year’s celebration was also special because Tomatina completed 20 years of being declared an international tourism attraction.