Tomato Festival

Tomato Festival

　Tomato Festival is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Bunol, a town located in the East of Spain 30 kilometres from the Mediterranean. People throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes. Since 1945 it has been held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Bunol.

　It all started the last Wednesday of August in 1945. A small band blowing horns went through the streets furiously¹. Maybe for fun, a group of young people picked tomatoes and threw them at the instrument. This was the origin of the Tomato Fight.

　From then on, visitors from around the world gather in Bunol town every August to celebrate this festival. Here, the tomatoes bring not only happiness of harvest but the joy of throwing tomatoes.

　The tomato fight begins in the center of town. Before the fight the government will transport² tomatoes by truck to streets on both sides as the weapon³ of the fight. Many local people and tourists take off their T-shirts. As soon as they hear the order of fight, they begin to throw tomatoes at other people who they don’t know before. There are some rules of festival for the safety of people. Don’t throw bottles or hard things at people.

Press tomatoes before throwing them to avoid hurting others. Keep a safe distance from trucks.

Notes:

1. furiously adv. 猛烈地 2. transport v. 运送，运输

3. weapon n. 武器