New Delhi:Celebrated in the Valencian town of Buñol, La Tomatina is arguably world’s largest food fight where people shower each other with tomatoes purely for fun.
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Bollywood fans will remember the festival from Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara where they shot an entire song sequence at the festival and we saw Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif and the rest of the cast being ‘Paint in Red.’ The song features on the festival’s website as well.
Prior to 2013, around 40,000 to 50,000 people would cram into this tomato fight, expanding Bunol’s normal 9,000 person population. A challenger, definitely someone with a whole lot of upper body strength, climbs his way to the top to secure the ham.
The La Tomatina festival is considered the largest food fight in world.
La Tomatina festival is believed to have originated in 1945 when some young people went to the town square to attend the Giants and Big-Heads figures parade. The participant flew into a fit of rage and started to hit everything in his path. There was a market stall of vegetables that fell victim to what soon became a furious crowd.
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People repeated the act following year and then authorities of Bunol made it an official festival in 1957. La Tomatina honours the town’s two patron saints, Luis Bertran and Mare de Deu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), a title of the Virgin Mary.
