Monday, August 27, 2012

La Tomatina

UPDATE: Added "La Tomatina" & "Oktoberfest" above the news reel, and "Calculator" on Feel the Lemon.

The London Paralympics comes soon. It's the biggest sports events for disabled people. However, in many countries, this event is not on media, and treat minimal. Naturally, these people do not always want to be in front of people, but they are trying.

In this event, one special athlete is Oscar Pistrius. He was on the track in the London Olympics. He will come back on the field for this Paralympics too. How does he run?



Well, the opening ceremony of the London Paralympics is on August 29. On the same day, in Bunol, Spain, "La Tomatina" happens. Some weeks ago, I wrote about this a little.

La Tomatina is started in 1940s. The origin is uncertain, and there are some stories. According to the official website,
"It all began on the last Wednesday of August in the year 1945. A group of teenagers were watching the festivities and parades of the gigantes y cabezudos (carnival puppets with enormous heads) in the Town Square. They decided to try to join the parade of musicians and gigantes y cabezudos. One of the parade’s participants got angry as a result of the teenagers’ actions, and started to hit everything in his path. The crowd then also became furious, and in a twist of fate, they took tomatoes from a nearby vegetable stall and began to throw them at one another. This continued until law and order was restored and the vegetable battle had to stop."
In 1950s, this festival was through all fortunes, and banned. However, people succeeded it, and now we can watch this event every year on TV. If we want to enjoy, we can get there and join.

Here are some rules:
  1. Don't bring hard things and bottles(they may hurt people).
  2. Don't rip other people's clothes.
  3. Squash tomatoes before you throw.
  4. Keep a safe distance from the lorries which bring tomatoes.
  5. When the second call sounds, stop throwing tomatoes. 
Before I wrote a topic about "swimming goggle." For keeping eyes safety, they recommend to use swimming goggles for people who entry the tomato fights.

The festival begins in the morning, and other events are in the town. However, until the first shot sounds, people are prohibited to throw tomatoes.

All the details are on the official website below,




Now you open the official site, you can find the photo that a couple kisses in the tomatoes. The period that people can throw tomatoes is only around one hour. It may be an exciting and romantic moment for lovers.

When people hug, then they may listen to their heartbeats each other.

 "Heartbeat" by Tahiti 80 (2000)

"Heartbeat" is also important for athletes. Especially, disabled athletes might be difficult to control when they train for the Paralympic games. It's the time that their efforts become sound. Their beats will be on the lives.

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