Photos: La Tomatina!

Grab your tomatoes, folks. It’s La Tomatina time!

The world’s biggest food fight is happening today in the town of Bunol, near Valencia, Spain. Every year, people from around the globe come to splatter the town with more than 100 metric tonnes of over-ripe tomatoes.

Of course, it’s not just a food fight—there’s also a parade, dancing and fireworks during the week leading up to the fight, as well as a soap-covered pole with a ham at the top. (Yes, seriously. It’s called the Palojabón, and whoever can climb the pole and get the ham gets to keep it.)

But it’s definitely the big tomato toss finale that brings some 20,000 to 40,000 people annually to Bunol—a town that normally only has a population of 9,000.

As for the why, no one knows. Some say the tradition started with a food fight, others that it was an attack on a bad musician, and still others say that angry townsfolk attacked city councilmen with tomatoes during a town celebration.

Didn’t make it to Bunol this year, but want to experience the messy fun?

Check out our photo gallery of the tomato carnage that is LA TOMATINA!

La Tomatina: Spain's Messiest Festival

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Photo Credit: Graham McLellan