There are many interpretations about the origin of the Tomatina, but the most popular version tells us that in 1945, when the people living in Buñol were attending the traditional procession of "Gigantes y Cabezudos" in the Plaza del Pueblo, a group of young people who wanted to join the procession with a lot of enthusiasm, accidentally provoked the drop of one of the most famous heads of the procession. The one whose head was knocked off was so angry that he started fighting with everyone around him.
The young people, in response to the fight, decided to throw at the big head the first thing they could find and thank goodness it was some tomatoes that were for sale at a nearby vegetable stand. Then the fight started, tomatoes were thrown, until the authorities broke up the fight.
Every year since then the same young people approached the procession just to make a fight and throw tomatoes, with more and more people joining in. Years later, the "tomato war" was repeated over and over again on the last Wednesday of August, reaching a point where the participants took their own tomatoes from home.
As it was not an official and organized festival, the situation became so bad that since 1950 the authorities banned the "tomato war". The people of Buñol demanded for many years that this celebration be declared official, so finally, in 1959, LA TOMATINA was officially instituted and the first rules and fundamental norms for the event were established.
Due to the great participation of people from all over the world, in 2002 it was declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest.