Socio-Cultural Impact Of La Tomatina Event in Spain essay
It is known that Spain has a rich cultural history based on the oldest traditions of the nation. Spanish fiestas and festivals attract attention of thousands of tourists from all over the world. They symbolize the nature of Spain and its people. All Spanish fiestas and festivals are colorful and rather noisy. Sometimes they are a little bit chaotic, but always tremendous fun. There are a great number of different fiestas and festivals in Spain. The largest events are La Tomatina, the famous Valincia tomato fight festival, Tamborrada de San Sebastian, the popular San Sebastian drum festival, Fiestas de la Vendimia Riojana, the well-known La Rioja Wine Festival, and many others. (Culture in Spain: Festivals, 2011)
It is known that the origins of most of Spanish festivals lie in religious feasts which in most cases honor the patron saint. Every day throughout the year one can find some fiesta or festival that takes place in one of the parts of Spain, “either at local, regional or national level”. (Fiestas and Festivals in Spain, 2011)
However, any fiesta or festival which is held in Spain has its impacts on society, country’s economy, culture and environment, both positive and negative ones. Festivals contribute greatly to the cultural and economic development of the country. (Hughes, 2000) Moreover, festivals have great impact on the development of cultural tourism which gains its popularity in many countries of the world. (Raj, 2003) Today festivals in Spain are developed as annual events which attract thousands of visitors and create cultural image of the host towns and cities. Socio-cultural impact of such events as festivals in Spain is of great importance for the successful development of the nation.
My goal in this paper is to carry out the impact analysis of La Tomatina event in Spain, with particular emphasis on socio-cultural impacts, including positive and negative ones.
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF LA TOMATINA EVENT IN SPAIN
La Tomatina is a popular festival which is annually held in Spain. The main peculiarity of this festival is that the participants of the festival are involved in the real tomato fight which is a great fun. (Shone & Parry, 2005) It is known that La Tomatina Festival is held on the last Wednesday of August in one of the Spanish towns, Bunol. Moreover, it is known that La Tomatina Festival is organized during the annual week of festivals held in the Valencian town of Bunol in order to honor the city’s patron saints: San Luis Bertran and the Virgin de los Desamparados. People celebrate them with colorful parades and concerts, different cultural events and culinary competitions. (Valencia Gets Ready for La Tomatina, 2011)
According to the historical data, the first la Tomatina Festival was officially held in 1950, when the town authorities allowed the young people of Bunol to organize a tomato fight. However, the first illegal tomato fight was held in 1945, when several young people wanted to participate in the parade of gigantes y cabezudos and used tomatoes as weapons in their fight. They repeated this action several subsequent years, but each time the police stopped their fights. It is known that this festival was banned several times, but it did not lost its popularity. In 1957, it was decided to establish official rules and restrictions of this event. Some of these rules include the following ones. First of all, it is necessary to crush tomatoes before throwing in order to avoid serious injuries. Secondly, it is not allowed to use any other vegetables or fruits instead of tomatoes. Thirdly, the participants of the festival should give way to the fire trucks with tomatoes. This action lasts only one hour. The end of the fight is announced by the second shot. (La Tomatina, Official Site, 2011)
La Tomatina Festival is considered to be the largest food fight in the world. In 2011, about 40,000 participants from all over the world took part in this event. About 100 tons of tomatoes were used in the fight, valued at about $35,000. (Valencia Gets Ready for La Tomatina, 2011)
ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT-RELATED ISSUES PERTAINING TO THE SPANISH FIESTAS AND FESTIVALS INCLUDING LA TOMATINA EVENT
It is not a secret that any fiesta or festival held in Spain or in any other country of the world is considered to be a colorful event organized by a local community. Moreover, festivals serve not only to provide entertainment for both the local residents and the visitors, but also they serve to meet some specific needs of this or that community. (Hunnan & Williams, 2010) Such celebrations as festivals also provide a sense of belonging to social, geographical or religious groups. Modern Spanish festivals are focused on different cultural and ethnic issues, and are used to inform other members of their old traditions and beliefs. Besides, festivals are used as a means of unity among people of different nationalities. There are a great number of festivals in Spain that is why the impact-related issues pertaining to the Spanish fiestas and festivals are different. The most popular festivals include arts festivals, music festivals, religious festivals, film festivals, folk festivals, wine festivals and food festivals. La Tomatina event is related to food festivals. (Types of Festivals, 2007)
As La Tomatina event is known throughout the world, thousands of tourists come to the small Spanish town of Bunol each year in order to take part in this festival. According to the statistics, about 9,000 of local residents and over 21,000 of tourists from different countries of the world gather in the streets in order to start “a massive tomato food fight”. (Wolcott, 2010) That is why one of the most important impacts of La Tomatina festival in Spain is economic impact. The statistics shows that “over 60 million people visit Spain each year bringing in on average $46 billion dollars”. Spain’s economy is known as one of the fastest growing economies in Western Europe. Moreover, “its tourism spending is the second highest in the world, going behind the USA who has the highest with $74 billion”. The numerous festivals which attract such mass amounts of tourists from all over the world have a positive impact on Spain’s economy. (Wolcott, 2010)
The other impact-related issues pertaining to fiestas and festivals include social and cultural impacts. Most festivals and events are known as “key tools for urban regeneration and reviving and refocusing urban and rural communities”. (Festivals and Events: Beyond Economic Impacts, 2005)
Moreover, it is known that festivals and fiestas attract mostly young people. It means that young people can have a chance to develop their communicative skills, to become more open and independent. Cultural impact of festivals is focused on local and national identity, cultural diversity and “interaction with other arts forms and creative industries”. (Festivals and Events: Beyond economic Impacts, 2005)
One more impact-related issue pertaining to festivals is connected with environment pollution. It is known that large numbers of people gathered in such small town as Bunol create a dangerous environmental situation including air pollution and noise pollution caused by the cars and other vehicles of the tourists. (Shaw & Williams, 2003)
ANALYSIS OF THE POSITIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF LA TOMATINA EVENT IN SPAIN
La Tomatina Festival which is held in Spain every year has a lot of positive socio-cultural impacts. First of all, this Spanish Festival attracts thousands of tourists from different parts of the world. Young people are ready to take part in this event in order to relax, to meet new friends and to learn more about Spain and Spanish culture. It is clear that those tourists who come to La Tomatina Festival usually stay in the town for two more days. They learn about Spain’s history and visit historical places, such as museums, art galleries, parks and churches. It is known that the town of Bunol is famous for its old castle and “old military sentry post dating back to the 17-th century”. Moreover, a lot of tourists prefer to visit Valencia, the third largest city in Spain which is located just in 38 km from Bunol. The numerous places of interest in Valencia include the Botanic Garden, the old cathedral dating back to the 13-th century, several palaces, such as Palau de la Generalitat, Palacio de Congresos, Palacio de Cervellу, Palau de la Mъsica, and museums, such as Almudнn, the Cathedral Museum, the Valencian Institute of Modern Art, the Blasco Ibбсez museum, the Bellas Artes museum, the City museum and the Science museum, the Patriarch museum and the Fallero museum, the Historical museum, the National Ceramics museum, and the Bullfighting museum. (Guide to Valencia, 2011) Besides, it is found that such small town as Bunol has no enough accommodation for thousands of tourists and the city of Valencia “provides the required hotels and resorts.” (La Tomatina, Spain, 2011) That is why it is necessary to note that La Tomatina Festival is a so-called “tool” used for promoting tourism in Spain. (Felsenstein & Fleischer, 2003)
ANALYSIS OF THE NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF LA TOMATINA EVENT IN SPAIN
The negative socio-cultural impacts of La Tomatina Festival in Spain are rather serious. First of all, they are based on the fact that this event can lead to different traumas and injuries. According to the statistical data represented by the Department of Health in 2009, 7 participants had serious cuts which required stitching, 2 participants suffered from hypothermia, 1 person suffered from heart stroke, 10 participants suffered from anxiety attack, 3 participants were treated for bruising. (La Tomatina 2011: and the Weapon of Choice is…, 2011)
Secondly, negative socio-cultural impacts of this food festival are focused on unethical and uncivilized behavior of its participants who hurl tomatoes to each other. This activity can be regarded as a foolish human activity because adults behave as naughty children who do not think that tomatoes were grown through hard work of farmers. Moreover, in some countries such food festival has been cancelled. For example in Bangalore, India, the Chief Minister refuses to give permission for this event. He states that “62,000 kg of tomatoes getting wasted for the fun of the rich is not fair”. (Bangalore’s Tomatina Festival Cancelled, 2011)
The negative socio-cultural impact of La Tomatina festival is mentioned by many people in the world. For example, Kavita Srivastava who is the activist of a Right to Food Campaign, says that it is immoral to destroy food for the sake of fun: “In a country where millions are starving and one third of the population is malnourished, throwing away food is not fun at all. I appeal to the organizers to use the money for something more useful instead”. (Joshi, 2011)
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE APPROPRIATE STRATEGIES THAT MAXIMIZE THE POSITIVE IMPACTS AND MINIMIZE THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF LA TOMATINA EVENT IN SPAIN
As La Tomatina Festival is popular throughout the world, and in 2002, this food festival was declared “a Festivity of International Tourist Interest”, it is very important to find the appropriate strategies in order to maximize the positive impacts of the festival and to minimize the negative ones. (Hannan & Williams, 2011)
It is recommended to inform the participants of the Festival of the possible consequences of their tomato battle. In this case, it is necessary to give appropriate instructions concerning the behavior of the participants during the fight. It is better to distribute special leaflets with warning in order to avoid possible injuries during the tomato fight. It is known that in 2006, the local councilor Pilar Garrigues informed the press that “people receive advice before the fight begins”. (Tomato Revellers Paint the Town Red in Annual Festival, 2006) However, during the fight there were many injuries and traumas.
Moreover, it will be better to reduce the length of the festival from one hour to 20 minutes in order to waste far less tomatoes. This strategy will help to minimize negative impacts of the festival. (Taylor& Holloway, 2005)
In order to maximize the positive impact of La Tomatina Festival, it is recommended to include this event into special program with some other activities for the tourists including visiting museums, castles, and palaces.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that La Tomatina Festival in Spain is one of the most popular events in the world. It is the symbol of unity and friendship. Moreover, La Tomatina Festival can be regarded as an anti-weapon action because the participants of the event use tomatoes as weapons in the fight. It is a so-called anti-war campaign where people of different nationalities and of different beliefs have fun. The positive socio-cultural impacts of the event are based on people’s unity and friendship, while the negative impacts of this food festival are focused on uncivilized and unethical behavior of the participants and on high risk to suffer from injuries, hypothermia, heart attack, anxiety attack and others. That is why it is very important to find those strategies that will help to minimize the negative impacts and to maximize the positive ones.
