At 9am on the last Wednesday in August, Spain’s messiest festival begins. It begins as a seemingly benign affair, with pastries and rolls served in Buñol town square, approximately 38km to the west of the city of Valencia. At 11am, a large pole with a ham attached to the end is raised into the air, which the assembled masses attempt to pull down.
When they manage it, a rocket is fired into the air, giving the signal to nearby trucks to tip over 100 tonnes of ripe tomatoes on to the crowd. The following hour involves a large-scale tomato battle, with people merrily hurling tomatoes at one another and writhing around in the ketchupy pulp.
The annual La Tomatina festival began in 1945 and has been attracting large crowds ever since. On the day of the tomato-hurling, the local population increases from around 9,000 to over 40,000.
Goggles and old clothes are a must – though the local fire brigade obligingly hoses down revellers at the festival’s end.