Tomatina Festival: Spain's Epic Tomato Throwing Extravaganza

The Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain, is a high-spirited event where 22,000 participants engage in an overripe tomato-throwing battle. Originating in 1945, the annual event sees locals and tourists alike drenched in tomato pulp. Despite its brief ban in the 1950s, Tomatina continues to be a lively part of Spanish culture.

The streets of Bunol, eastern Spain, turned crimson on Wednesday as 22,000 revelers engaged in the Tomatina festival, flinging 150 tons of overripe tomatoes at each other in high spirits.

Donning white clothes soon bespattered with tomato pulp, participants—many from abroad—kicked off the hour-long fray with firecrackers. Local residents enjoyed free entry, while non-residents shelled out 15 euros ($16.70).

Originating in 1945 from a spontaneous brawl, the festival was briefly banned under Franco's dictatorship but returned in 1959 with added regulations. Post-battle, the town's streets are hosed down, thanks partly to the tomatoes' natural acidity.