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 prvi zalučal usodni paradižnik, ki je sprožil revolucijo La Tomatina? V resnici ne ve nihče. Morda je bil vržen iz upora proti Francu ali na karnevalu, ki je ušel izpod nadzora. Glede na najbolj priljubljeno različico zgodbe, so leta 1945 na festivalu Los Gigantes (parada ogromnih lutk iz papirmašeja) domačini, željni pozornosti, uprizorili pretep. Pri tem so naleteli na cizo z zelenjavo in začeli metati zrele paradižnike. Pridružili so se jim nevedni mimoidoči in prizor se je sprevrgel v velikanski ravs in kavs sredi letečih razhudnikov. Povzročitelji nereda so morali povrniti škodo prodajalcem paradižnika, kar pa ni ustavilo ponovnih paradižniških spopadov – tradicija je bila rojena. Zaradi bojazni pred porastom nemirov so v 50. letih 20. stoletja oblasti uvedle, nato omilile in spet uvedle vrsto prepovedi. Leta 1951 so se domačini, ki so se požvižgali na zakon, znašli v zaporu, kjer so ostali, dokler jih ni rešila burna reakcija javnosti, ki je zahtevala njihovo izpustitev. Do najbolj razvpitega smejanja v brk paradižniškim prepovedim je prišlo leta 1957, ko so navdušenci uprizorili pogreb paradižnika, na katerem ni manjkala niti krsta niti sprevod. Po letu 1957 so se lokalne oblasti odločile popustiti in določile nekaj pravil ter sprejele norčavo tradicijo za svojo. Čeprav imajo glavno vlogo paradižniki, se v tednu pred končnim obračunom odvije še vrsta drugih prireditev. Med njimi je počastitev zavetnikov Buñola, sv. Marije in sv. Louisa Bertranda, ki jo na razigran španski način spremljajo ulični sprevodi, glasba in ognjemet. Da si lahko udeleženci naberejo moči za bližajoči se spopad, jim na predvečer bitke postrežejo z gromozansko paello, tipično jedjo iz Valencie, ki temelji na rižu, morskih sedežih, žafranu in oljčnem olju. Nebrzdani festival premore dandanes določeno mero reda. Za ta vsakoletni dogodek so organizatorji celo vzgojili posebno vrsto neužitnega paradižnika. Praznovanje se prične okoli desetih zjutraj, ko se udeleženci zaženejo proti vrhu spolzkega droga, kjer jih čaka pršut. Med njihovim petjem in poplesovanjem po ulicah jih gledalci škropijo z vodo. Ko cerkveni zvon odbije poldne, se med vse bolj glasnim skandiranjem "To-ma-te, to-ma-te!" v mesto pripeljejo tovornjaki, naloženi s paradižniki. Potem se sproži vodni top in glavni dogodek se prične. Na ta način se prižge zelena luč za mendranje in metanje paradižnikov sredi vsesplošnega spopada med soudeleženci. Paradižniki poletijo proti svojim tarčam v dolgih lobih, po atentatorsko iz neposredne bližine in v krošejih srednjega dosega. Ne glede na tehniko, ki jo udeleženci uberejo, bo proti koncu njihov videz postal precej drugačen (in z njim tudi počutje). Slabo uro pozneje se s paradižnikom obdelani bombaši igrajo v cmokajoči kaši, ki preplavlja ulice, kjer je le še stežka moč najti cel paradižnik. Oglasi se še drugi topovski strel in bitke je konec. |