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 vrgel usodni paradižnik, ki je sprožil revolucijo La Tomatina? V resnici nihče ne ve. Morda je šlo za upor proti generalu Francu ali pa za karneval, ki je ušel izpod nadzora. Najbolj priljubljena različica zgodbe pravi, da so med festivalom Los Gigantes (parada ogromnih lutk iz papirmašeja) leta 1945 domačini nameravali prirediti boj, da bi pritegnili pozornost. Naleteli so na voz z zelenjavo in začeli metati zrele paradižnike. Nedolžni opazovalci so se jim pridružili, dokler se vse skupaj ni stopnjevalo v ogromen vrvež letečega sadja. Pobudniki so morali prodajalcem paradižnikov plačati, vendar to ni ustavilo pojava še večih bojev s paradižniki - in rojstva nove tradicije. Oblasti, ki so se bale, da se bo zadeva neobvladljivo stopnjevala, so v petdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja sprejele, omilile in potem ponovno uvedle vrsto prepovedi. Leta 1951 so domačine, ki so se zakonu uprli, aretirali, dokler ni javnost s protestom zahtevala njihovega izpusta. Najbolj znan primer predrznega nespoštovanja prepovedi se je zgodil leta 1957, ko so zagovorniki za paradižnike pripravili čisto pravi pogreb, vključno s krsto in procesijo. Po letu 1957, se je lokalna vlada odločila, da se je najbolje sprijazniti z dogajanjem, postavila nekaj pravil ter sprejela čudaško tradicijo. Čeprav so v ospredju paradižniki, teden praznovanj vodi do končnega spektakla. Gre za praznovanje zavetnikov Buñola, Device Marije in svetega Ludvika Beltrana, ki vključuje ulične parade, glasbo ter ognjemet, v veselem, za Špance značilnem slogu. Da zberete moči za neizogibni boj, vam na predvečer bitke postrežejo s paello, ikonsko valencijsko jedjo iz riža, morskih sadežev, žafrana ter olivnega olja. Dandanes ima ta neomejeni festival vsaj določeno mero reda. Organizatorji so šli celo tako daleč, da gojijo posebno vrsto neužitnih paradižnikov zgolj za ta letni dogodek. Praznovanje se začne okoli desetih dopoldne, ko tekmovalci tekmujejo, kdo bo prej zgrabil šunko, nastavljeno na vrhu namaščenega droga. Opazovalci med petjem in plesanjem po ulicah polivajo prerivajoče se tekmovalce z vodo. Ko cerkveni zvon odbije poldan, se v mesto pripeljejo tovornjaki, polni paradižnikov, skandiranje množic: »To-ma-te, to-ma-te!« pa doseže vrhunec. Nato se s strelom vodnega topa začne glavni dogodek. To je zelena luč za tlačenje in metanje paradižnikov v splošnih napadih na druge udeležence. Met v loku z velike razdalje, direkten met s kratke in horuk met s srednje razdalje. Ne glede na to, kakšna je vaša tehnika, boste proti koncu izgledali (in se počutili) čisto drugače. Skoraj uro pozneje se bombaši, premočeni od paradižnikovega soka, igrajo v morju zdrizaste salse, kjer je težko najti še kaj podobnega paradižniku. Ponovni strel topa pomeni konec bitke. |