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Produced for the web
by Marisse Panaligan, GMA News
September 25, 2019
Pinas Sarap host Kara David arrived for the La Tomatina Festival in Valencia, Spain wearing a white shirt. By the end of the celebration, her shirt turned into a pretty shade of pink, like pasta dipped into spaghetti sauce.
As the name implies, La Tomatina is a festival for tomatoes. Spain is the eighth largest producer of tomatoes in the global market—not surprising, considering that the tomato is a key ingredient in Spanish cuisine.
To further boost the tomato industry, the town of Buñol in Valencia holds the La Tomatina Festival every year. The town is 30 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea and has a humble population of 9,000 people, but this number triples every year in August as tourists participate in the festival.
So what exactly happens in La Tomatina? First, festival goers were gathered in a street half a kilometer long, with the buildings covered by tarpaulins to keey away debris. And then they waited for the trucks carrying the tomatoes to arrive.
Kara was undaunted by the prospect of sharing such a small space with thousands of strangers. Even when people started splashing water towards each other, she remained unfazed.
“Ilang beses na akong nag-cover ng Pista ng Nazareno so sanay ako sa siksikan. I mean, it's not new to me. Ilang beses na rin akong nag-cover ng basaan sa San Juan, 'yung Wattah Wattah festival,” she says. “Parang ako pa nga feeling ko, bring it on!”
According to Dr. Kerby Alvarez, a history professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman, the act of splashing water toward festival goers could have religious signifance.
“Sa maraming mga relihiyon sa Asia at sa iba pang bahagi ng mundo, 'yung idea ng cleansing bilang bahagi ng pagdiriwang ay nandoon,” he says. “So 'yung basaan I think is isa itong pamamaraan o pagsisimula or element ng anumang kapistahan.”
La Tomatina, just like Philippine festivals, featured games. People competed in a variation of Palo Sebo—Palo Jabon, in which soap was used to make the pole slippery and difficult to climb for the contestants. A large piece of ham was on top as the prize, but in the end nobody won.
People also walked around handing over free food and free alcohol, and tables were set up on the streets for those who want to eat.
“Nakakatuwa kasi meron din pala silang kultura na kapag fiesta parang open house na may libreng pagkain,” Kara says. “Pero mas bongga tayong mag-fiesta. Kasi sa atin talagang lahat ng bahay nakabukas tapos lahat puwede kang tumikim, lahat namimigay.”
When the horns finally blared signalling the arrival of the trucks, people began to prepare for the incoming mayhem. Some wore goggles to protect their eyes.
The calm before the storm of the tomato fights. Photo: Pinas Sarap
Kara, for her part, thought the festival was going to be the benign kind of fun.
“Pumuwesto ako sa front line para makuha ko ‘yung shower of tomatoes. Kasi syempre pumunta ka pa sa tomato festival kung magtatago ka lang rin,” she says. “Sabi ko ay gusto kong mahulugan ng mga kamatis.”
What ensued, to Kara’s surprise, was an outright hostile food fight. People played dodgeball with 145 tons of tomatoes in their arsenal.
“Wild ‘yung mga tao. Talagang pag hindi ka kumilos at hindi ka lumaban at hindi ka nag-defend sa sarili mo, eh babatuhin ka nila ng babatuhin, magkakapasa-pasa ka,” she says.
The local history of Buñol offers an anecdotal origin story for the La Tomatina Festival. A man was said to have disturbed the solemnity of a parade, which provoked an angry reaction from the participants.
“Bilang retaliation o ganti nung mga nasa parada, pinagbabato siya ng mga prutas dahil may nadaanang isang vegetable stand,” Dr. Alvarez says. “At doon na nagsimula ‘yung ideya na kada pista ay gawin natin siyang bahagi o masayang activity sa pistahan nung lugar.”
Kara David was caught in the crossfire of the festivities, resulting in red eyes and light bruises. Photo: Kara David
The festival has one important rule: participants should crush the tomatoes first in their hands before they throw it so people would not get hurt. But this was not always followed, resulting in some minor injuries for those who were hit with whole, and sometimes unripe, tomatoes.
Kara herself caught a stray tomato straight to her nose, causing her to lose her bearings for a few moments.
“Parang binato ka ng bato,” she says. “For a few seconds parang feeling ko shucks shucks shucks nagdudugo ba 'yung ilong ko? Kasi talagang sumakit ‘yung ulo ko.”
Fortunately, her nose was not broken. But that was not the last of her troubles: she later lost her camera as the festival descended to chaos.
Kara in the aftermath of the Tomatina festivities. Photo: Pinas Sarap
“Habang hawak-hawak ko 'yung Go Pro, bigla na lang merong barrage of tomatoes, maraming kamatis, bigla na lang sinaboy sa mukha ko,” she says. “I felt it na parang tinaaman 'yung mismong camera. Tapos nawala sa kamay ko ‘yung handle tapos lumipad ‘yung camera.”
Her team tried to look for the camera, but the ground was already covered in a reddish sludge. Coupled with the amount of people moving around, it was impossible to conduct an thorough search.
“Wala na, nawalang parang bula ‘yung camera,” Kara says.
The festival was over after an hour. Kara’s team reported the incident to the police station, and they were suprised to learn that so many other people also lost belongings during the festival.
For those interested to join the festival, Kara’s advice is to refrain from bringing valuable items or secure them in your person as much as possible. She understands the desire to take pictures, but people should manage the risks involved.
“Sa Pista ng Nazareno, wala namang nagsasakitan. Parang siksikan lang kayong lahat tapos you're all moving towards one direction. Pero ito, siksikan kayo, naglalaban-laban kayo at nagbabatuhan kayo,” she says.
“It's a once in a lifetime experience.”
BEHIND THE SCENES
La Tomatina y La Filipina
By Arci Formales, Segment Producer, Pinas Sarap
The Pinas Sarap crew before the tomato fight. Photo: Pinas Sarap
The “Tita” in me would probably cringe at the thought of going to another country just to get hurt, beaten, and soaked wet — but that’s exactly what happened when my team from ‘Pinas Sarap’ and I went to Spain to cover the La Tomatina Festival in August.
Brief background: The La Tomatina Festival is a famous celebration that has people running around, throwing tomatoes at each other for an hour along the streets of Buñol in Spain. All that “mayhem” was conceptualized to strengthen the tomato industry in their country.
Though Buñol is a small, old town in Valencia, its population triples every August as almost 20,000 tourists from different parts of the world flock there to join the annual tomato fight. For this year’s La Tomatina Festival, about 145 tons of tomatoes were used.
145 tons of tomatoes.
I never thought that my first trip to Europe would involve getting hit voluntarily with tomatoes by strangers and running the streets of Spain soaked in sweat and tomato juice. I always marveled at how fun the videos of the festival on the internet and the movies looked like, but our experience proved to be more memorable.
On the day of the festival, we had to be at the venue at 8 AM. All the participants for the tomato fight were required to wear white so at that time, my host, Kara David, and the rest of our team were at our “freshest form”.
Games like Palo Jabon before the main event. Photo: Pinas Sarap
You can actually feel the thick excitement of the revelers while walking the main streets of Buñol —- locals were happily chanting, giving away free food (YES!) to tourists, and even dousing us in alcohol! As if getting drunk was “pregame” for the craziness that awaits us at the tomato fight.
We also passed by a group of tourists playing “Palo Jabon” meaning soap pole. It’s the spanish version of our own “Palo Sebo”, but this time, they use liquid soap to make the pole slippery for climbers aiming for that prized pork leg ham at the top.
Thirty minutes before the tomato fight, everyone was already soaked as revelers douse each other with water —- think Watta Watta Festival in San Juan, only this time, the water that they threw to us was freezing!
I was actually getting chills even before our shoot started.
The Pinas Sarap crew after the tomato fight. Photo: Pinas Sarap
At 11 a.m., a gunshot went off, signalling the start of the festivities! The crowd cheered as truckloads of tomatoes arrived. People started piling the streets and then suddenly, I felt short but constant pelts hitting my head —- Oh my God! It’s flying tomatoes!
You have to remember that the most important rule of the La Tomatina Festival is that participants should crush the tomatoes first so it won’t hurt when it hits other tourists.
But the opposite was true for us!
It was painful, but of course I need to endure them! I was focused on shooting my host, when I felt a very huge tomato hit my right ear. I can’t hear anything for about 30 seconds… like I’ve experienced momentary deafness.
The atmosphere was wild and the crowd was rowdy. The surrounding smelled like stale Marinara sauce mixed with sweat and... socks.
We were already trudging the streets covered with a thick, ankle-deep layer of tomato slush — and I felt like I was hit with tomatoes every 5 to 10 seconds.
Some fruits were as hard as… wait, were they whole oranges?! I had to practice utmost self-control to prevent myself from fighting back as I was filming my host.
My camera was still rolling, when somebody hit my host with a slew of crushed tomatoes, causing her to drop her action camera. We lost the gadget in the sludge and I tried to stay focused.
The author in the aftermath of the tomato fight. Photo: Pinas Sarap
Somebody threw a pail of tomato slush at my face and I tasted some of it. The juice entered my eyes and I can’t even move because of the pain. That was the worst moment for me at the festival.
Thankfully, at noon, we heard another gun shot. The La Tomatina Festival finally came to a close. The crowd cheered while our team looked for the lost camera, but to no avail.
On our way to the police station, most of the female tourists were already in their underwear. Some houses offered free water so tourists can rinse themselves, but since the water was really cold, we were getting chills again, so I decided to remove my shirt!
We walked for 20 minutes to the Guardia Civil or the local police station of Buñol. We were surprised to see a long queue of people, apparently also filing reports for their lost belongings — one lost his phone, the other lost her wallet. Another unlucky tourist had his bag slashed and he lost all his belongings, including his passport. At that time, I realized that a lot of preparation and alertness is required for such big and action-packed events.
“Ayoko ng masikip! Ayoko ng mabaho! Ayoko ng putik!”
As the famous lines of Filipina actress Maricel Soriano said, I felt that during the La Tomatina Festival. But with all the adrenaline and excitement, I had no time to be picky.
My experience in Spain was like falling in love —- I got hurt (with tomatoes, lots of it), but I’d be willing to do it again.
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