|
A youth
lays in a bath of tomato juice during the annual "Tomatina"
tomato fight in the town of Bunol, near Valencia, eastern
Spain, Wednesday Aug. 28 2002. |
Tens of thousands of people stripped off
their shirts and hurled tons of ripe, juicy tomatoes at each other
in the annual Tomatina food fight, creating knee-deep rivers of
tomato sauce on the streets of this Spanish town.
The festival, which has its roots in a food fight between childhood
friends, is gaining in popularity. Wednesday's crowd numbered
around 38,000 - more than four times the population of Bunol -
and 8,000 more than last year, Spanish news agency Efe reported.
At noon, municipal trucks hauled in 132 tons of plum tomatoes
and dropped them at the feet of the crowds in the main square
of Bunol, a town 190 miles southeast of Madrid.
Within seconds, the square was covered in a sheen of red slime
and clouds of tomato-colored mist as people threw, tossed, pitched
and aimed the vegetables at everyone and everything.
The participants, including many women, had ripped off their
shirts and many wore goggles to keep the tomatoes from stinging
their eyes.
At 1 p.m., a rocket fired from the balcony signaled the end and
Bunol residents uncoiled garden hoses to spray down the tomato
tossers and the rest of the town.
The event has become something of a calling card for Bunol. The
Tomatina, held the last Wednesday in August, is said to be the
world's largest tomato fight.
Local legend claims the event began in the 1940s after a group
of youngsters waged a food fight on the town square. They met
again the next year and pelted each other - and passers-by, starting
the tradition.
(Agencies)