La Tomatina is a tomato-throwing festival in Buñol, a town in the Valencia region of Spain. The participants, who usually number in the tens of thousands, throw over 110 tons (100 metric tons) of tomatoes at one another. La Tomatina traditionally takes place each year on the last Wednesday in August. 
La Tomatina is held in the town center known as the Plaza del Pueblo. To kick off the festival, participants try to dislodge a ham from the top of a greased pole in the plaza. This ritual is known as el palo jabón, which translates to the ham stick. At 11 a.m., a cannon blast signals the start of the food fight, and trucks unload tomatoes for the participants. For safety reasons, the participants must squash each tomato before it is thrown. After an hour, another cannon blast signals the end of the throwing. The streets are then cleaned by trucks with water hoses and volunteers with brooms. The festival continues for the rest of the day with other activities, including concerts and competitions.
The origin of La Tomatina is not known for sure. According to local folklore, the festival was founded in the mid-1940’s, after a group of young boys accidentally started a fight during a parade. In the chaos, a nearby vegetable stand was overturned, and the conflict turned into a food fight using the spilled tomatoes. The food fight was then reenacted annually by the townspeople.
The Spanish government under Francisco Franco (1892-1975) disapproved of non-religious holidays. For this reason, La Tomatina was officially banned for several years during the 1950’s. Despite the ban, Buñol continued to hold a version of the festival in secret. In 1957, townspeople organized a mock funeral procession for a large tomato to protest the ban. In response to the protest, the ban was lifted, and La Tomatina was recognized as an official local festival.
In 1980, the Buñol City Council took over the organizing of the festival. La Tomatina reached national attention after the festival was broadcast live on Spanish television in 1983. The event later gained international attention, and it now attracts tourists from around the world.
The festival was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After two years’ absence, La Tomatina returned in August 2022 for the festival’s 75-year commemoration.
