Since then, it has been a yearly tradition except when it was banned for a few years in the 1950's. Las Fallas de Valenica celebrates Saint Joseph, the saint of carpenters. This tradition began in the Middle Ages when carpenters would burn wood to celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
What's really cool about how La Tomatina uses tomato is that tomatoes are actually Spain's most consumed vegatable. Spain grows tons of tomatoes!. Since Las Fallas is a five day event, a lot of people from Valencia get together and celebrate in the city because it is such an important festival for them. Fun fact: although I didn't attend Las Fallas, I did travel to Valencia, and the people there spoke Valencian, which is a dialect of Catalan!
