Celebration and religion play significant roles in the communities of Spain . Festivals mark specific identities among each Spanish community (Douglass 1991: 126). La Tomatina is that identifying celebration for the city of Bunol , Spain .
La Tomatina is essentially a religious celebration. Although religious, the festival is not a rites of passage event (Turner: 203). As stated earlier, the purpose for the festivities is to honor Bunol's patron saint San Luis Bertran, and also the Virgin Mary (Tomatina). Parades, music, dancing, and fireworks are all ways of giving praise to Bertran and the Virgin Mary (Tomatina). Aside from the religious aspect of the celebration, La Tomatina's crowning feature is the two hour long tomato fight on the final day of the ceremony. This part of the ceremony is secular in nature.
Reasoning for having the tomato war is unknown exactly, however it is known that it is purely secular (Sprachcaffe). Only has the tomato war has been officially allowed and recognized by the local government as part of La Tomatina since 1959 (Tomatina). It is however, undisputedly the most crucial part of La Tomatina. Between 40,000 and 20,000 people congregate to hurl tomatoes at one another, many of them tourists. Although there is no cost to participate in the squishy tomato activities, tourists bring money to Bunol's small town. The daily costs of eating, lodging, and transportation alone bring economical benefits to Bunol, and also Spain . There exists great economic value in celebrating La Tomatina.
Socially, throwing squished tomatoes at people and ripping their clothes off provides cultural identity, as well as amusement. Many maps of Spain showing political features do not always include the town of Bunol . People truly know Bunol for their tomato fight; it is in the essence of the town's identity.
Individuals participating in the event too benefit from La Tomatina. A mayor of a town in Spain commented in 1985 about Spanish festivals, “We are ready, far from the everyday problems of the rest of the year, for the happiness of fiestas, crowned by harmony and peace” (Douglas 1991: 128). Spanish people love to participate in these celebrations. In a world full of high mobility and highly stressful activities, many will argue that people need a means of emotional and aggressive release. La Tomatina provides that for many as described by Esquire author Cal Fussman:
Suddenly, I was in a human wave without end, singing, ole-ole-ole-ole-ole-ole! At the tops of my lungs, and as the bodies bounced off me, eight hands grabbed the collar of my T-shirt all at once and ripped in four directions until the shirt was torn in pieces. I no longer felt like the poison-ivy-riddled, forty-one-year-old grouch working two jobs to support my kids and pay his debts but like the gleeful, bare-chested twenty-two-year-olds frolicking around me. I immediately turned with the mob on the next man in a T-shirt and helped tear it to shreds; soon every man's chest was bared. Every woman must have been forewarned-drat!—for each female seemed to have a bathing-suit top lurking underneath her T-shirt (Fussman 1998: 151).
People involved in La Tomatina feel the significance it has on them. Both Bunol and Spain also experience the economic, religious, and social benefits radiating from the celebration.