La Tomatina is a popular festival of tomatoes which is held in the town of the Valencian city of Buñol in Spain. Participants throw tomatoes at each other in a friendly fight. The festival is held on the last Wednesday of the month of August and the festivities last for a week. La Tomatina 2019 is being celebrated on August 28. The fun food festival receives tourists from around the world. Thousands of people come together and throw tomatoes at each other during the event.

Buñol is located approximately 30km away from the Mediterranean sea. The population of the town which is surrounded by mountain ranges is 9,000 people. The first La Tomatina event happened in the 1940s accidentally. According to La Tomatina's official website, a parade was taking place in the town square with people dressed as big heads on the last Wednesday of August in 1945. Spain's Bunol Paints Itself Red Celebrating the Tomato Festival.

This incident caused the big head of one of the participants to fall off making the person angry. it resulted in havoc along the parade route colliding with a market stall selling tomatoes. It ended up in spectators throwing tomatoes at one another and thus La Tomatina was born.

Watch The Tomato Festival Underway in Buñol Here:

According to a La Tomatina travel website, the festival was banned by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco for having no religious significance. In fact, a tomato burial was held din 1957 in protest of the decision. In 2002, La Tomatina was declared a Festivity of International Tourist Interest by the Spanish Secretary of the Department of Tourism. The food fight begins with water cannons being fired at least for one hour. Following the celebrations, the trucks carrying water drive along the streets of the city spraying water to clean the place. While until 2013, anyone could walk into the festivities, for the past six years only those who have valid tickets are given entry.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2019 05:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).