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La Tomatina Festival in Spain


La Tomatina Festival, Spain

Do you desire a holiday with a festival other than the usual fireworks, music and dancing? La Tomatina festival is a unique festival that might just fulfil that burning desire. This festival is the world largest food festival and one of the most celebrated events in Spain. Every last Wednesday of August, this festival brings over 40,000 participants to Bunol to take part in the tomato fight. This year's event will be held on the 25th of August. If you want some fun and are not afraid to get your hands dirty, this festival is the time to really lose your inhibitions and let yourself into the mood of this festival with the Spanish. Be prepared to get washed in red tomato juice which - for some - can even be a fetish to spice up their romantic life! You can go online to book your flights to Spain if you want to be one of the participants for this year's event.

There is a week-long preparation that goes into the festival. Many shop owners cover their shops before hand with huge plastic covers as a protection from the mess. There are also few rules to adhere to. It a part of the rule to squash the tomatoes before hurling them at people. However, any objects other than tomatoes are not to be thrown!

The festival usually takes place in the morning around 10am. A lot of trucks stocked with about 125,000 kilos of overripe tomatoes assemble at the town centre in Plaza del Pueblo. Before the start of the festival, five canons filled with tomatoes are fired into the sky after which the mass of tomato fight begins. Every individual would throw tomatoes at each other. Men, women and children dose themselves in a mess of tomato juice. Women are often in white apparel while the men wear nothing but white shorts. The whole frenzy usually lasts for about an hour. Another whistling sound from the tomato-filled canon signals the end of the festival. This festival also features a lot of parades, music, dancing and fireworks as well as a paella cooking competition.

To have an utmost fun at this festival, it might be a good idea to bring along some swimming goggles to protect your eyes from any discomfort that may be caused by the tomato acidity and perhaps afew old clothes so that you won't feel disappointed if it gets ruined.

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