September 01, 2005
La Tomatina 2005 (update)

So me n mrs mule set off from NL on Friday night, drove through Belgium and France down to Bordeaux. When we arrived at 4am it was raining really hard....most upsetting... but the following day we met up with some friends, Barbara, Russell, Scarlet et al. it was glorious and sunny, we went for a 'beet spoat ride' (speedboat ride) in Glyns nice power boat across the lake, and enjoyed some drinks at the bar. In the evening we watched the sun going down over the Atlantic Ocean... very niiiice.

The folling day we set off for Spain driving through the Pyrenees and down through Zaragoza to Buñol.

Bunol was already heaving with tourists for 'La Tomatina' which is part of a week long celebration. The actual day of the Tomatina begins with the locals climbing a greasy pole to pull off a Ham tied to the top.. this takes about an hour with halerious attempts of wobbly human towers. Once the ham is down the tension really started to build up, people started ripping each others t-shirts off and throwing them around, water cannons were deployed to cool off the masses.

At about 11am a big 'boom' signals the arrival of the trucks, filled with tomatoes.. they slowly drive down the narrrow street emptying their tomatoes on the way down... it tunrs into a frenzy, we were scrambling on the floor to pick up tomatoes and throw them at everyone or anyone in sight.... pure mayhem!!!! After 40 minutes we were totally covered, drenched, stinking of tomato flesh (it was hard not to gag) tomato penetrates every bit of your clothing/hair/skin. We dtarted to wander back the bus to clean ourselves up... getting showered by the locals on the way. I took some photies with a waterproof camera... so you'll have to wait until i get the film developed... I can't wait!

We are still in Spain.. and debating catching a flight home because we are really, really tired. I think I may pop back in a few weeks and drive the bus home from San Pedro with mrs mules dad... huzzah!

How the Tomatina started....

the most reliable and historical version says that everything started in 1945. The town square (where the "tomatina" is traditionally held nowadays) was crowded with young people of that time to witness a "Gigantes y Cabezudos" parade (giant carnival figures with a grotesque head). Some of them decided to join the authority commitee and music band leading the parade and to do so they pushed the ones who were wearing the giant disguises.

One of the participants fell down and when he stood up he started beating everyone around so everybody got caught up in a fight.
Fate or chance, there was a vegetable stall nearby with open crates showing the goods for sale. The young people involved in the fight took the tomatoes from the crates and started throwing them at each other until the police broke up "the battle", and those responsible for the riot paid for the damages.

This riot was not forgotten and the next year on the same Wednesday of August the youths of the town met again at the square, but this time with their own tomatoes. This is how another battle started and once again was stopped by the local police. In fact, in the following years the authorities forbade the celebration of what was already popularly known as the "day of the tomatina". Nevertheless, this celebration has been held every year since them.

mrmule.com

Archives