Yup, it’s about that time again. Time to splatter friends and strangers alike with buckets of thick, rich, sticky streams of tomato juice. Haha, fun! “Tomatina” is an annual food fight held on the last Wednesday of August in Buñol, Valencia. The population of the tiny town almost quadruples with tourists who want nothing more than a big, sloppy tomato to the face, prompting business owners to protect their storefronts with sheets of plastic. Sounds fun. And dirty. And insane:

Technically the festival does not begin until one brave soul has climbed to the top of a two-story high, greased-up wooden pole and reached the coveted ham at the top. In practice this process takes a long time and the festival starts despite no one reaching the meaty prize. The signal for the beginning of the fight is firing of water cannons, and the chaos begins. Once it begins, the battle is generally every man for himself.

You’ll be picking tomato seeds out of crevices you didn’t even know you had. Anyway. The New York Times has some pretty fantastic pictures of the event. Check ‘em out:

Why you don’t place babies in microwaves.

Nice melons! Snorts, adjusts virginity.

Prom! Aw, memories.

Tomatina [Wikepedia]
The “Tomatina” [Boston Globe]