Who cast that first fateful tomato that started the La Tomatina revolution? The reality is no one knows. Maybe it was an anti-Franco rebellion, or a carnival that got out of hand. According to the most popular version of the story, during the 1945 festival of Los Gigantes (a giant paper mâché puppet parade), locals were looking to stage a brawl to get some attention. They happened upon a vegetable cart nearby and started hurling ripe tomatoes. Innocent onlookers got involved until the scene escalated into a massive melee of flying fruit. The instigators had to repay the tomato vendors, but that didn't stop the recurrence of more tomato fights—and the birth of a new tradition.
Fearful of an unruly escalation, authorities enacted, relaxed, and then reinstated a series of bans in the 1950s. In 1951, locals who defied the law were imprisoned until public outcry called for their release. The most famous effrontery to the tomato bans happened in 1957 when proponents held a mock tomato funeral complete with a coffin and procession. After 1957, the local government decided to roll with the punches, set a few rules in place, and embraced the wacky tradition.
Though the tomatoes take center stage, a week of festivities lead up to the final showdown. It's a celebration of Buñol's patron saints, the Virgin Mary and St. Louis Bertrand, with street parades, music, and fireworks in joyous Spanish fashion. To build up your strength for the impending brawl, an epic paella is served on the eve of the battle, showcasing an iconic Valencian dish of rice, seafood, saffron, and olive oil.
Today, this unfettered festival has some measure of order. Organizers have gone so far as to cultivate a special variety of unpalatable tomatoes just for the annual event. Festivities kick off around 10 a.m. when participants race to grab a ham fixed atop a greasy pole. Onlookers hose the scramblers with water while singing and dancing in the streets. When the church bell strikes noon, trucks packed with tomatoes roll into town, while chants of "To-ma-te, to-ma-te!" reach a crescendo.
Then, with the firing of a water cannon, the main event begins. That's the green light for crushing and launching tomatoes in all-out attacks against fellow participants. Long distance tomato lobbers, point-blank assassins, and medium range hook shots. Whatever your technique, by the time it's over, you will look (and feel) quite different. Nearly an hour later, tomato-soaked bombers are left to play in a sea of squishy street salsa with little left resembling a tomato to be found. A second cannon shot signals the end of the battle. | Kdo je zalučal tisti prvi usodni paradižnik, ki je začel revolucijo La Tomatina? V resnici nihče ne ve. Mogoče je šlo za protifrancovski upor ali za karneval, ki je ušel iz nadzora. Po najbolj priljubljeni različici zgodbe so domačini leta 1945, med festivalom Los Gigantes, v želji po pozornosti uprizorili pretep. V bližini so naleteli na voz z zelenjavo in pričeli metati zrele paradižnike. Pridruževali so se jim tudi nedolžni opazovalci dokler se vse skupaj ni končalo v splošnem obmetavanju z letečim sadjem. Povzočitelji so morali poplačati prodalajce paradižnika, kar pa ni preprečilo pojavljanja še več obračunov s paradižniki – in rojstva nove tradicije. V strahu pred neobvladljivim poslabšanjem izgredov so oblasti sprejele, oblažile in ponovno vzpostavile vrsto prepovedi v petdesetih letih 20. stoletja. Leta 1951 so priprli domačine, ki so kršili zakon, dokler jih zaradi ogorčenja javnosti niso spustili. Najbolj slavni javni protest proti paradižnikovim prepovedim se je zgodil leta 1957, ko so zagovorniki izvedli uprizorjen pogreb paradižnika, vključno s krsto in sprevodom. Po letu 1957 so se lokalne oblasti odločile, da se prilagodijo, vzpostavile nekaj pravil in podprle čudaški običaj. Čeprav so paradižniki v središču pozornosti h končnemu obračunu vodi teden svečanosti. Gre za praznovanje svetnikov zavetnikov vasice Buñol, Device Marije in Sv. Ludvika Bertranda, z uličnimi paradami, glasbo in ognjemeti, v veselem španskem slogu. Za okrepčanje pred bližnjim obmetavanjem na predvečer bitke servirajo ogromno paello, tipično valencijansko jed iz riža, morskih sadežev, žafrana in olivnega olja. Dandanes ta nebrzdan festival le ima določeno mero redu. Organizatorji so šli tako daleč in posebej za ta vsakoletni dogodek vzgojili posebno vrsto neokusnih paradižnikov. Svečanosti se pričnejo okoli 10 ure zjutraj, ko udeleženci tekmujejo kdo bo prvi zgrabil šunko pritrjeno na vrhu namaščenega strebra. Ko cerkveni zvon odbije poldan v vasico pripeljejo nabito polni tovornjaki s paradižniki, medtem ko svoj višek dosežejo napevi ljudi: "To-ma-te, to-ma-te!". Potem se s strelom vodnega topa prične glavni dogodek. Ta je zelena luč za drobljenje in lučanje paradižnikov v vseobsežnih napadih na soudeležence. Metalci paradižnikov na dolge razdalje, morilci s kratke razdalje in srednjeprožni strelci. Kakršnakoli naj že bo vaša tehnika, ko bo vsega konec boste izgledali (in se počutili) precej drugače. Skoraj uro kasneje so s praradižniki premočeni bombniki prepuščeni igranju v morju mljackajoče ulične omake v kateri ni skoraj ničesar kar bi sličilo paradižniku. Drug strel vodnega topa označuje konec bitke. |