That’s actually sort of a misleading headline, because the red is Rioja wine—lots of it—and as the picture above indicates, it’s not really red at all, once it’s soaked into everyone’s clothes.
Monday marked the annual Batalla del Vino, or Wine Battle in the town of Haro in Spain’s northeastern Rioja region, a tradition three centuries old. Over 9,000 took part, starting with a hilltop mass in the morning and ending with a wine-soaked mess. About 130,000 liters of wine were used.
Participants dress in white, and the battle with buckets, sprayers, hoses, anything but bottles, continues until no white can be seen.
The tradition grew out of dispute between two neighboring towns, but stayed local for many years. In recent years, it has become a big tourism draw and is listed as a ‘Festival of National Tourist Interest’ in 2011. The town supplies 50,000 liters of wine; the rest comes from local groups and from individuals who bring their own.
Image: BigSus/Wikimedia Commons
